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Re: Today's jaw dropper



On Sun, 5 Oct 1997, Daniel L. MacIsaac wrote:

I got one for you from Wilson's COLLEGE PHYSICS 3rd Ed, Q15.64. The
problem states that an electron is moved tthrough a potention of 10^8 V
in a lightning discharge. Ignoring collisions, what KE does it gain?
The supposed e- gains 10^8 eV of KE.

Now, my reasoning is that an e- masses about 5x10^5 eV. Guess how fast an
electron with a KE of 10^8 eV is going.

My *guess* is, pretty close to the speed of light and it is borne out by
my calculation of .999988 c.

Next? ;-)

John
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