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Pair production is the creation of an elementary particle and its analog, or antiparticle, by a photon or an uncharged boson. It's significance to special relativity could be described by saying that it is a consequence of special relativety. This classical quantum mechanical process is the creation of matter from energy according to the basic equivalence theorem, E = mc2. That said, let's look at what is arbuably one of the most "common" cases - the creation of an electron-positron pair from a high energy photon. If a photon of sufficient energy slashes through the space near an atomic nucleus, the energy (or some of it) will be converted into mass. It takes a lot of energy to make a little mass, just as converting just a tiny amount of mass into energy makes a lot of energy. In the case of the electron and the positron, the latter being an anti-electron or antimatter, the minimum energy needed to create the pair of particles is 1.022 MeV (million electron volts). This is equivalent to the rest mass of a pair of electrons. We're creating two particles, are we not? If a "hot" gamma ray (meaning a high energy one) of 1 MeV flashes by a nucleus, no electron-positron pair will appear because the energy threshold has not been met. Special relatively actually speaks to the lack of any "immune" inertial frame when considering the speed of light and how its speed is measured. Translation: the speed of light is a constant, no matter what your frame of reference. But pair production will follow quantum mechanical principles meaning a given amount of energy will be converted to mass per the mass-equivalence equation, and also that charge, spin and other quantum mechanical characteristics, the so-called quantum numbers, will be conserved.

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Why the pair production process does not take place in vacuum?

Pair production requires a photon to interact with a strong electromagnetic field, typically provided by a nucleus or another particle. In a vacuum, there are no such fields to facilitate this interaction, as the photon cannot simply convert into a particle-antiparticle pair. The conservation of energy and momentum also necessitates a third body (like a nucleus) to balance these quantities during the process. Therefore, pair production cannot occur in a vacuum.


Is Pair Production possible near black hole?

Yes. The (as yet hypothetical) Hawking radiation is due to pair production near the border (event horizon) of a black hole.Yes. The (as yet hypothetical) Hawking radiation is due to pair production near the border (event horizon) of a black hole.Yes. The (as yet hypothetical) Hawking radiation is due to pair production near the border (event horizon) of a black hole.Yes. The (as yet hypothetical) Hawking radiation is due to pair production near the border (event horizon) of a black hole.


Which structure-function pair is mismatched ribosome protein synthesis nucleolus production of ribosomal subunitsmicrotubule muscle contraction Golgi protein trafficking lysosome intracellular?

mtubules and muscle contraction (its mfilaments)


What is the minimum energy to produce ionization?

The minium required energy of a photon that is involved in the creation of an electron-positron pair (which is pair production), is 1.022 MeV.An electron-positron pair has a given probability of being produced when a photon of the stated energy (or a higher energy) passes close the nucleus of an atom. Pair production does not happen "in the presence of a photon" but happens as a direct result of the the actual presence of a photon (having at least the stated energy) in the presence of an atomic nucleus. The presence of an atomic nucleus is necessary to insure conservation of the quantum mechanical characteristics of the event. Said another way, the high energy photon alone cannot spontaneously create the electron-positron pair in pair production. A link can be found below to related questions.


How is energy turned to mass What is an example of turning energy to mass?

Energy can be turned into mass through the process of pair production, where a high-energy photon creates a particle-antiparticle pair. An example of turning energy into mass is when a gamma-ray photon interacts with an atomic nucleus, leading to the production of an electron-positron pair.

Related Questions

Can pair production produce in vacuum?

pair production can not produce in vaccum


What three types of primary industries are involved in the production of a pair of skates?

What three types of manufacturing industries are involved in the production of a pair of skates


What has only one pair of 1 pair of parallel?

One pair of 1 pair of parallel is 2 pairs of parallels. It could be a parallelogram or special cases of polygons with 5 or more sides.One pair of 1 pair of parallel is 2 pairs of parallels. It could be a parallelogram or special cases of polygons with 5 or more sides.One pair of 1 pair of parallel is 2 pairs of parallels. It could be a parallelogram or special cases of polygons with 5 or more sides.One pair of 1 pair of parallel is 2 pairs of parallels. It could be a parallelogram or special cases of polygons with 5 or more sides.


Did Amelia Earhart have a special pair of goggles?

Yes, she had special goggles.


How does pair production differ from pair annihilation in the context of particle physics?

Pair production and pair annihilation are processes that involve the creation and destruction of particle-antiparticle pairs in particle physics. Pair production occurs when a high-energy photon interacts with a nucleus and produces a particle-antiparticle pair, such as an electron and a positron. This process requires energy to create the particles. On the other hand, pair annihilation is the process where a particle and its corresponding antiparticle collide and annihilate each other, resulting in the production of high-energy photons. This process releases energy in the form of photons. In summary, pair production creates particle-antiparticle pairs from energy, while pair annihilation involves the destruction of particle-antiparticle pairs to release energy in the form of photons.


What primary economic activities are associated with making a pair of jeans?

Cotton production, dye production, and metal production (for the buttons and rivets).


What is conservative of mass?

The notion that mass, or matter, can be neither created nor destroyed. According to conservation of mass, reactions and interactions which change the properties of substances leave unchanged their total mass; for instance, when http://www.answers.com/topic/charcoal burns, the mass of all of the products of combustion, such as ashes, soot, and gases, equals the original mass of charcoal and the oxygen with which it reacted. The special theory of relativity of Albert Einstein, which has been verified by experiment, has shown, however, that the mass of a body changes as the energy possessed by the body changes. Such changes in mass are too small to be detected except in http://www.answers.com/topic/subatomic phenomena. Furthermore, matter may be created, for instance, by the materialization of a http://www.answers.com/topic/photon (quantum of electromagnetic energy) into an electron-positron pair; or it may be destroyed, by the http://www.answers.com/topic/annihilation of this pair of elementary particles to produce a pair of photons. See alsohttp://www.answers.com/topic/electron-positron-pair-production; Relativity.


What is special about the angles in a pair of alternate angles?

They are equal.


Can pair production take place in a vacuum?

== No. In a complete vacuum with nothing there, electromagnetic energy (the gamma ray from which pair production might arise) will proceed unaffected and at the speed of light. The question asks specifically about a vacuum and suggests that there is nothing there to in any way react with the gamma ray. So the answer is that pair production will not take place in, say, the extreme vacuum of deep space where a gamma ray is passing. If we start "tinkering" with the scenario and, say, firing high energy gamma rays down an evacuated pipe through which we pass a magnetic field, pair production might then occur. But it is impossible to have a magnetic field without having the material to create it - moving charges. No moving charges, no magnetic field, no pair production. Pair production will not arise spontaneously from a gamma ray of sufficient energy to facilitate it, and this is almost certainly what the question is asking. Additional information There has been publication of research that suggests that a magnetic field can initiate pair production, but the investigation continues, and the idea of doing this "strays" from what is arguably the true intent of the question. It would have been easy to change the question, but why not leave up what is up? The idea that a magnetic field can initiate pair production is an interesting one.


What three manufacturing industries are involved in the production of a pair of skates?

hi


What are the best pair of headphones for studio production?

Beats by DR. DRE


What is the significance of the twisting in twisted-pair cable?

The twisting in a twisted pair cable helps make the cable immune to electromagnetic interference. These cables are of two types: Shielded and unshielded twisted pair.