Where am I doing mistake of concept in deriving the De Broglie equation? When I am deriving de Bro

Dennis Montoya

Dennis Montoya

Answered question

2022-05-18

Where am I doing mistake of concept in deriving the De Broglie equation?
When I am deriving de Broglie wavelength for a relativistic particle using E 2 = m 2 c 4 + p 2 c 2 and equating with E = h c λ , and then putting p = k m v, k being relativistic factor, I am getting λ = h k m c instead of h k m v .
Is there any mistake that i am doing with equating those 2 energy equations ? Or something else ?

Answer & Explanation

hospitaliapbury

hospitaliapbury

Beginner2022-05-19Added 25 answers

The equation E 2 = m 2 c 4 + p 2 c 2 is valid for all particles with mass m
But equation E = h c λ is true only for massless particles (i.e. m = 0), e.g. for photons.
I guess you got this wrong equation by putting together E = h ν (which is indeed correct for all particles) and ν = c λ (which is valid only for massless particles).
Laila Andrews

Laila Andrews

Beginner2022-05-20Added 4 answers

The speed is k m v c 2 k m c 2 = p c 2 E . Using this speed in place of c to get frequency from a wavelength,
E = h ν = h p c 2 E λ λ = h p c 2 E 2 = h v k m c 2 .
This is the correct relation for massive particles.

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