Reference no: EM131553150

Question: A gas of C₆₀ molecules was created in an oven at temperature T. A beam of molecules escaped through a small hole in the oven, passed through the diffraction grating, and was detected at a distance of 1.2 m from the grating. The number of molecules detected as a function of the detector's distance from the center line is shown in Fig.

a. From their data the experimenters determined the de Broglie wavelength of the C₆₀ molecules was 4.6 pm. What was the distance between neighboring slits in the diffraction grating?

Fig. - Interference pattern of c₆₀ molecules (buckyballs) obtained by Nairz et al., "Quantum interference experiments with large molecules," Am. J. Phys.

b. How fast were the C₆₀ molecules moving?

c. Estimate the temperature T of the oven assuming that the molecular speed you found in part (b) is ≈ v_rms of the molecules in the oven.

d. Suppose that helium atoms (mass = 4 u) were used instead of C₆₀ molecules and that the same interference pattern was found. Find the ratio between the speed of the He atoms and the speed of the C₆₀ molecules.