Posted by Lauren on Sunday, February 6, 2011 at 3:30am.
Because momentum is conserved, and total momentum is zero, the alpha particle will have 1/4 the velocity of the antiproton.
Total energy remains zero. That means the two particles acquire kinetic energy equal to the potential energy LOSS, which is
k*2*e^2/R
where e is the electron charge, k is the Coulomb constant and R is the final separation. The number "2" is there because the alpha has charge +2e, and the antiproton has charge -e. It is the product than matters.
Set that equal to the final kinetic energy and solve for the velocity of either particle. The second particle will have to be expressed in terms of the first. For example,
V(alpha) = (1/4)*V(antiproton)
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