3 ms·
The fact that cross sections become smaller at high velocities is very intuitive: force applies its kick over time, and there is a lot of distance between the p
by whatshisface 1y ago
The fact that cross sections become smaller at high velocities is very intuitive: force applies its kick over time, and there is a lot of distance between the parts of an atom. If a particle is going fast enough it whizzes by without pushing on the other atoms for very long.
- shadowgovt 1y agoYes, thank you, this was the intuition I was missing! Protons almost never collide directly with a nucleus because most of an atom is empty space; a proton beam disrupts the matter it's passing through mostly by electrostatic effect, and that's a function of position and time!