Particle Physics

Unit 4 – Physics
1.
a) In the Rutherford scattering experiment, fast-moving alpha particles were fired at a thin
gold foil. What observations from this experiment suggested that the atom has a small,
massive nucleus? (2)

b) The diagram shows the path followed by one alpha particle which passes close to a gold
nucleus N.

Add arrows to the diagram at points X and Y to show the direction of the force on the alpha
particle when it is at each of these points. (1)

c) The speed of the alpha particle was the same at points A and B. On the axes below,
sketch a graph showing how the speed would vary with distance along the path from A to
B. (2)

d) With reference to the forces you added to the previous diagram, explain the shape of the
graph. (2)

e) The diagram below shows the path of the alpha particle again.

1 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)

 f) Add a line to this diagram to show the path which would be followed by an alpha particle
which was travelling initially along the same line as before, but more slowly. (1)

g) The evidence for a small, massive nucleus from Rutherford scattering might have been
less convincing if the alpha particles used had been of lower energy. Suggest how the
observations would have changed if lower energy alpha particles had been used. (1)

2.
a) The lines A and B show part of the paths of two alpha particles as they travel through an
atom.

Add to the diagram the subsequent paths of each alpha particle as they travel through and out of
the atom. (2)
b) Rutherford investigated the scattering of alpha particles by gold foil in an evacuated
container. The evidence from his investigations led to the nuclear model of the atom.
Why was it important for this investigation that
(i) the alpha source was inside the container,
(ii) the alpha particles had the same initial kinetic energy,
(iii) the container was evacuated?

3. The scattering of alpha particles by thin films of metal, such as gold, reveals details about
the structure of an atom.
a) For each of the two observations below give one clear deduction that can be made
concerning atomic structure.
(i) Most alpha particles pass through the metal film without being deflected.
(ii) Some alpha particles are deflected by angles greater than 90° from their original
direction(2)
b) Of the alpha particles that are deflected most are deflected through angles much less than
90° from their original direction. Explain why, from this observation alone, it is
impossible to deduce the sign of the charge on the nucleus. You may use a diagram to
illustrate your explanation. (2)
c) The ratio of atomic diameter to nuclear diameter can be expressed in the form 10n .
Suggest an appropriate value for n. (1)

2 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)

 4. At the start of the 20th century it was thought that the atom contained an even distribution
of positive charge with electrons embedded in it. Rutherford directed a series of
experiments using α-particles to investigate the structure of the atom.

In 1913 Rutherford wrote that “the observations on the scattering of α-particles by matter
afford strong experimental evidence for the theory that the atom consists of a positively
charged nucleus of minute dimensions surrounded by a compensating distribution of
negative electrons”.

Outline the experimental observations to which Rutherford is referring and explain how
they led him to this deduction. (6)

5. Quarks were discovered using the Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC). The diagram
below shows the principle of a linear accelerator (LINAC).

a) State what is connected between terminals T1 and T2. (2)

b) Explain why the electrons travel with constant velocity whilst in the cylinders. (2)
c) Explain why the cylinders gradually increase in length along the accelerator (2)

6. The diagram shows part of a linear accelerator - a linac. Alternate metal tubes are
connected together and to opposite terminals of a high-frequency alternating potential
difference of fixed frequency.

a) Describe how the protons are accelerated as they move along the linac and explain why
the tubes get longer towards the right. You may be awarded a mark for the clarity of your
answer. (6)

3 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)

 b) A particular linac has 420 metal tubes and the peak voltage of the alternating supply is
800 kV.
(i) Show that the emerging protons have gained a kinetic energy of about 5 × 10–11 J
and express the mass equivalent of this energy as a fraction of the mass of a
stationary proton. Take the mass of a proton mp as 1.01 u. (6)
(ii) The frequency of the alternating supply is 390 MHz. Calculate how long it takes a
proton to travel along the linac. (2)
c) The emerging protons can be made to collide with (i) a target of fixed protons, e.g. liquid
hydrogen, or (ii) a similar beam of protons travelling in the opposite direction. State some
advantages of either or both experimental arrangement(s). (2)

7. Some radioisotopes for use in hospital treatments have short half-lives. These
radioisotopes are manufactured in the hospital where they will be used. Some hospitals
use a relatively cheap machine such as a cyclotron to produce a beam of high energy
protons. This beam is allowed to collide with the target material to produce the
radioisotope.

In a cyclotron. the protons are accelerated by a high frequency alternating voltage. A uniform
magnetic field. of strength 200 mT. causes the protons to follow a circular path which increases
in radius as the protons gain kinetic energy. Immediately before the protons leave the cyclotron
they are moving in a circular arc of radius 1.5 m.

a) Show that the speed of these protons is about 10% of the speed of light. (3)
b) Calculate the approximate time taken for the proton to complete the last semi-circle of its
orbit. (2)
c) Hence calculate the frequency of the accelerating p.d. (1)

4 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)

 8. Pion radiotherapy is a new form of cancer treatment that has been extensively
investigated for tumours of the brain. Pions are short lived sub-atomic particles and
belong to a group called mesons.
a) The following table lists some quarks and their charge.

On the list below circle the combination which could

correspond to a π+ pion. (1)

b) The mass
2
of a pion is 0.14 GeV/c . Calculate the mass of a pion in kg
(3)
c) Pions can be produced by accelerating protons using a cyclotron. Briefly explain
the role of electric and magnetic fields within a cyclotron. (5)
d) When pions are used to treat brain tumours they are slowed by the tissue in the
brain and cause little damage. When a pion is moving very slowly it may be
absorbed by the nucleus of an atom. The atom nucleus then becomes unstable and
breaks up into several fragments. Explain why these fragments shoot out in all
directions. (3)

9.
(i). Two particle reactions are shown. Use appropriate conservation laws to show
whether these reactions are possible. (3)

(ii).Using only the information given above deduce the charges on each of the
strange, up and down quarks. Justify your answers. (2)

10. A student is researching information about CERN, the particle research centre near
Geneva. He finds the following statement on a web site:

“The circular tunnel is eight kilometres in diameter … fully accelerated particles circle
the tube twenty thousand times in one second …”

Calculate the speed of the particles, and comment on the likely accuracy of the statement.
(4)

11. The following strong interaction has been observed.

Σ– + p → X + K– + n
(dds) (ūs)
a) Is particle X positive, negative or neutral? (1)
b) Is particle X a baryon, a meson or a lepton? (1)
c) State the quark composition of the proton and the neutron. (1)
d) Explain why particle X cannot contain a strange quark, and deduce the identity of
particle X. You may be awarded a mark for the clarity of your answer. (4)

5 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)

 12.
a) The dashed line on the graph below shows how the kinetic energy of a proton would
vary with the square of its speed if the relationship

k.e. = ½mυ 2

were to hold for all values of υ, no matter how high.

Use data from the graph to show that the rest mass of the proton is about 1.7 × 10−27 kg
(3)

b) The curved line on the graph shows how the kinetic energy of a high-energy proton
actually varies with the square of its speed. This is greater than that predicted by the ½mυ
2
expression because of relativistic effects.

(i). Complete the table below to show the extra energy ΔE, caused by relativistic
effects, for protons accelerated to the three speeds υ shown in the left column

6 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)

 (ii).For any one of your values for ΔE, calculate the equivalent mass increase Δm of a
proton moving at that speed and express this mass increase as a percentage of the
rest mass of a proton. (5)

13. In 2007 the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was opened at CERN. The circular accelerator
is 27 km in circumference and has five thousand superconducting magnets. The LHC can
give a proton an energy of up to

7 TeV. 1 TeV = 1 × 1012eV

a) One of the experiments on the LHC will attempt to create the Higgs particle,
which has not been created by any of the existing, lower energy accelerators. The
theoretical upper limit for the rest mass of the Higgs particle is 251 GeV/c 2 .

Explain why the LHC should be able to create the Higgs particle. (2)

b) Provided the energy of an accelerated particle is much greater than its rest-mass
energy, its momentum may be calculated using
𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦
𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑚 =
𝑐
(i). Show that a 7 TeV proton has energy much greater than its rest-mass energy. (2)
(ii).Show that the momentum of a 7 TeV proton is about 4 × 10–15 kg m s–1 (2)
(iii). Calculate the magnetic flux density provided by the superconducting magnets (4)
(iv). A student says “The magnetic field needs to be in the vertical direction to cause
the protons to travel in a horizontal circle”. Comment on this statement. (2)

14. In July 2003 scientists at the SPring-8 synchrotron in Japan announced the discovery of a
pentaquark – a particle made up of 5 quarks.

The pentaquark was produced by firing gamma photons at a target. It decayed very
rapidly into other products.

The diagram shows some of the particles involved in the production and decay of the
pentaquark, including the quark composition for several of them.

a) Name three quantities conserved during the decay of the pentaquark. (2)

7 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)

 b) The table shows the charges of the six types of quarks as a fraction of the charge
on a proton.

Find the charge of the pentaquark. Express your answer as a fraction of the charge
on a proton (1)

c) Explain whether particle X must be positive, negative or neutral. (1)

d) Suggest a possible quark composition for particle X.
Explain your choice of quarks. (2)
e) The pentaquark had a mass of 1.54 GeV/c 2 . Find its mass in kg (2)

15. A xi minus particle Ξ− decays to a lambda particle Λ and a pi meson π as shown below.

Ξ− → Λ + π−
(dss) (uds) (ud)

a) Classify each particle as either a baryon, a meson or a lepton.(3)

b) By considering the quark composition of the Ξ− show that the strange quark has
charge of -1/3 e (1)
c) Is the Λ particle positive, negative or neutral? Justify your answer. (2)

16. The family of quarks is shown below, together with the charge and mass of each.

a) What is meant by “charge = +2/3 ”? (2)

b) Calculate the mass of the strange quark in kilograms (2)
c) What would be the charge and mass of the anti-particle to the charm quark? (Use the
same units as in the table above.) (2)
d) The top quark was predicted by theoretical physicists several years before it was actually
found experimentally in 1994. What made them confident that the top quark existed? (1)
e) Give one reason why it took such a long time to find experimental evidence for the top
quark. (1)

8 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)

 f) In their search for the top quark, physicists thought that another particle called the W
might decay while stationary into one top and one bottom quark.

They predicted “The resulting top quark moves off relatively sluggishly on one side
while the lighter bottom quark travels more rapidly in the opposite direction”.

Using an appropriate conservation law, explain why the top quark moves off more
sluggishly than the bottom quark. (3)

17. A high-energy gamma photon enters a bubble chamber and produces an electron-positron
pair. The photograph shows the tracks of the electron and the positron. The gamma
photon enters from the top of the photograph.

a) State why the photon leaves no track. (1)

b) The magnetic field acts into the page. State with justification whether track A or track B
is the track of the electron. (1)
c) *Explain the shape of the electron-positron tracks. (6)

9 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)

 18. The photograph shows the path of an electron spiralling inwards anticlockwise in a
bubble chamber. The photograph is full size.

(a)
(i) Explain how the electron produces the white track. You may be awarded a mark for the clarity
of your answer. (4)

(ii) Explain the origin of the centripetal force that is making the electron spiral in this manner.
Why does the radius of the circle in which it is moving gradually decrease? (4)

(b)
Theory shows that the momentum p of the electron at any point on its path is given by
𝑝 = 𝐵𝑒𝑟,
where B is the magnetic flux density perpendicular to its motion, r is the radius of its path at that
point and e has its usual meaning.

10 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)

(i) The magnetic flux density in the bubble chamber is 1.2 T. By making suitable measurements
on the photograph, determine approximate values for the momentum of the electron at P, Q and
R. If you are using a transparent ruler, it may help to place a piece of white paper underneath it.
(Take the centre of the spiral to be at S.) (3)

(ii) The speed v of the electron at all three places P, Q and R on its spiral is 3.0 × 108m s–1 to two
significant figures. Deduce the effective mass of the electron at each point and comment on your
results.

Particle Physics MCQs

Q1.

When investigating the structure of the atom, alpha particles were directed at a thin gold foil. It
was observed that most of the alpha particles passed straight through undeflected.
Which of the following is a valid conclusion from this observation?
A A gold atom is mostly empty space.
B A gold atom is neutral.
C A gold nucleus is positively charged.
D A gold nucleus has a large number of protons.

Q2.

The diagram shows an electron deflection tube.

Electrons are released by a filament and accelerated towards the anode, producing a beam.
A magnetic field is applied, deflecting the beam as shown.
Which of the following causes electrons to be released from the filament?
A beta decay
B ionisation
C photoelectric effect
D thermionic emission

11 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)

Q3.

Electrons can be used to investigate atomic nuclei.

Which of the following is not a reason why electrons can be used for such an investigation?
A Electrons can be accelerated to very high speeds.
B Electrons can have wavelengths similar to the size of atomic nuclei.
C Electrons have negative charge.
D Electrons undergo diffraction.
Q4.

Which row of the table shows a possible arrangement of quarks in a baryon and a meson?
(1)

Q5.

A positron enters a particle accelerator. As it emerges from the accelerator its mass is
measured to be 3.8 × 10–29 kg.
It can be concluded that the positron
A has become a different particle.
B is travelling in a circle.
C is travelling at close to the speed of light.
D is travelling at a non-relativistic speed.

Q6.

Which of the following is not a fundamental particle?

A electron
B neutrino
C pion
D quark

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Q7.

In a linear accelerator, successive drift tubes increase in length.

Which of the following is the correct reason for the increase in length?
A The time spent by the particles in successive tubes increases.
B The time spent by the particles in successive tubes stays the same.
C The particles gain more energy in successive tubes.
D The frequency of the accelerating voltage can be increased.
Q8.

The table compares the mass and charge of an electron with the mass and charge of a positron.
Select the line in the table that is correct.

Q9.

The diagram shows the tracks in a particle detector. A lambda particle has decayed at O and
two particles P and Q were created.

Which of the following must be a correct statement about energy in this decay?
A total energy of P and Q < total energy of the lambda particle
B total energy of P and Q = total energy of the lambda particle
C total energy of P and Q > total energy of the lambda particle
D total energy of P > total energy of Q

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Q10.

A moving pion decays into two particles Y and Z. This decay occurs at point X in a
particle detector and the tracks observed are shown.

Which of the following is a valid conclusion from these tracks?

A Momentum has not been conserved.
B The pion is a neutral particle.
C Y and Z have different masses.
D Z is a negatively charged particle.
Q11.

Which of the following decays for a pion would not be possible?

A π0 → 2γ
B π+ → e+ + νe
C π0 → e+ +
D π0 → e+ + e− + γ

Q12.

Two particles X and Y were created by the decay of a lambda particle at O.

The diagram shows the tracks of particles X and Y.
Which of the following is a correct statement about momentum?
A The momentum of X is equal to that of Y.
B The total momentum of the system is zero.
C The vector sum of the momenta of X and Y must equal that of the lambda particle.
D The vector sum of the momenta of X and Y must equal zero.

14 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)

Q13.

A beam of electrons is made to travel in a circular path by applying a

magnetic field across the path of the beam.
Which of the following is the direction of the magnetic field required to
maintain this circular path for the electron beam?
A out of the page
B into the page
C left to right
D right to left
)
Q14.

Which of the following statements is a reason why electrons can be used to probe the nuclei of
atoms?
A Electrons are negatively charged.
B Electrons can be accelerated to high energies.
C Electrons can behave as particles.
D Electrons can be reflected.

Q15.

The diagram shows the tracks in a particle detector. A lambda particle has decayed at O and
two particles P and Q were created.

Which of the following is a correct statement about momentum in this decay?

A The total momentum of the system is zero.
B The momentum of P is equal to the momentum of Q.
C The sum of the momenta of P and Q must equal zero.
D The sum of the momenta of P and Q must equal that of the lambda particle.

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Q16.

A student suggests that two colliding protons could undergo the interaction

Which of the following statements is true?

A The interaction is not possible because charge is not conserved.
B The interaction is not possible because the number of particles is not conserved.
C The colliding protons must have a very high value of kinetic energy.
D The resulting particles must have a very high value of kinetic energy.

Q17.

The diagram shows the tracks of two particles, P and Q, created from an original particle at
point X.

Which of the following can be concluded from this diagram?

A P and Q have equal and opposite momentum.
B The original particle had no charge.
C The original particle was stationary.
D There is a magnetic field acting into the page.

Q18.

A particle has mass 3.4 GeV/c2.

Which of the following gives the mass of the particle in kg?
A 3.4 × 109 × 1.6 × 10–19 / 3 × 108
B 3.4 × 109 / 1.6 × 10–19 × (3 × 108)2
C 3.4 × 109 × 1.6 × 10–19 × (3 × 108)2
D 3.4 × 109 × 1.6 × 10–19 / (3 × 108)2

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Q19.

Which row of the table shows the quark structures of a meson and its anti-meson?

Q20.

A kaon can decay in several different ways.

Which of the following decays is not possible?
A K0 → π+ + e– + e
B K0 → π+ + π0 + π+
C K + → π 0 + e+ + ve
D K + → μ+ + vμ

Q21.

Which of the following particles is a lepton?

A muon B neutron
C pion D proton

Q22.

Which of the following products could not be produced by the decay of a Λ0 particle?

17 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)

Q23.

Accelerators are used to collide high energy particles so that their interactions can be studied.
Which of the following quantities is not always conserved in an interaction between particles?
(1)
A charge
B energy
C momentum
D rest mass
Q24.
A particle has mass 4.8 MeV/c2.
What is the mass of the particle in kilograms?
A 8.5 × 10-36
B 8.5 × 10-30
C 2.6 × 10-21
D 5.3 × 10-11

Q25.
Which of the following are the base units for the Planck constant h?
A Js

B J

C kg m2 s–1

D kg m2 s–2

Q26.
A pion decays into a muon and an antineutrino, according to the following equation.

The pion should be written as follows

18 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)

Q27.

In the early 20th century experiments were carried out to measure the scattering of alpha
particles after striking thin gold foil.
Which of the following could not be concluded from the results of these experiments?
A The nucleus contains most of the mass of the atom.
B The nucleus is made of protons and neutrons.
C The nucleus is charged.
D The nucleus has a much smaller radius than the radius of the atom.

Q28.

Some of Rutherford's alpha scattering experiments used radium as a source of alpha particles.
Which of the following nuclei would be produced by alpha emission from ?

Q29.

When a beam of high energy electrons is directed at a sample of a crystalline material, electron
diffraction can occur.

This can be observed as a set of concentric circles on a fluorescent screen, as shown in the
photograph.

19 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)

Which of the following changes would decrease the diameter of the circles?

A Use a crystal with a smaller spacing between the layers of atoms.

B Use a screen further from the crystal.

C Use electrons with greater momentum.

D Use electrons with lower speed.

Q30.

The photograph shows the track of a positron in a particle detector. There is a magnetic field
perpendicular to the plane of the track.

Which of the following is not a correct statement?

A The energy of the positron is decreasing.

B The magnetic field acts into the page.

C The positron is gaining mass.

D The speed of the positron is decreasing.

20 Saman Aravinda BSc (Hons)