Lesson: Units for Particle Rest Masses Physics • 9th Grade

In this lesson, we will learn how to use units of eV/c² to express the masses of subatomic particles and how to convert between eV/c² and kg.

Lesson Plan

Students will be able to

convert between units of kg and eV/, kg and keV/, kg and MeV/, and kg and GeV/,
understand how much more useful the eV/ unit scale is for particle physics and how inconvenient the kilogram (kg) scale is.

Lesson Worksheet

Q1:

The table shows the masses of the three charged leptons. What is the most massive lepton–antilepton pair that could be produced via pair production from a 150 MeV photon?

Q2:

What is kg in ? Give your answer to one decimal place.

Q3:

A muon has a mass of . What is the mass of a muon in kilograms? Give your answer to 3 significant figures.