Question

What is charge to mass ratio of proton and alpha particles?

Answer 1

Understanding the concept:

• As the name suggests, the charge of an object is divided by the mass of the same object to determine its charge-to-mass ratio (Q/m).
• Only objects that can be considered as particles are often an advantage of this quantity.
• Two protons & two neutrons make up the alpha particle

Charge mass ratio of proton and alpha particle:

Step 1 First we will calculate a charge mass ratio of both alpha particle and proton:

• Let's consider.
• The proton's charge is +e.
• m = proton mass
• The proton's specific charge is equal to e/m.
• $\mathrm{e}=1.6\times {10}^{-19}\mathrm{C}$and $\mathrm{m}=1.67\times {10}^{-27}Kg$
• Thus specific charge mass ratio of proton =$9.67\times {10}^{7}CK{g}^{-1}$
• Helium has a charge of +2e.
• Helium has a mass of 4m.
• Helium has a specific charge of 2e/4m.
• Specific charge of an alpha particle =$2\times 1.6\times {10}^{-27}C/4\times 1.66\times {10}^{-27}Kg$
• Thus specific charge of alpha particle =$4.82\times {10}^{7}C/Kg.$

Step 2 Ratio of these two(alpha particle and proton):

Thus the ratio = (e/m)$/$(4m/2e) = $/$

Therefore ratio is 2:1

• Because of this, the charge-to-mass ratio of a proton particle is double that of an alpha particle.