As a scientist in a nuclear physics research lab, you are

Chapter 43, Problem 43.68

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As a scientist in a nuclear physics research lab, you are conducting a photodisintegration experiment to verify the binding energy of a deuteron. A photon with wavelength l in air is absorbed by a deuteron, which breaks apart into a neutron and a proton. The two fragments share the released kinetic energy equally, and the deuteron can be assumed to be initially at rest. You measure the speed of the proton after the disintegration as a function of the wavelength l of the photon. Your experimental results are given in the table. L 11013 m2 3.50 3.75 4.00 4.25 4.50 4.75 5.00 v 1106 m,s2 11.3 10.2 9.1 8.1 7.2 6.1 4.9 (a) Graph the data as y2 versus 1>l. Explain why the data points, when graphed this way, should follow close to a straight line. Find the slope and y-intercept of the straight line that gives the best fit to the data. (b) Assume that h and c have their accepted values. Use your results from part (a) to calculate the mass of the proton and the binding energy (in MeV) of the deuteron.