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Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-short-options-paper-shared-by-prelims-and-parts-a-and-b-of-the-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017/s3/1/c/solution
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Past exam of the short options paper shared by Prelims and Parts A and B of the physics course of the University of Oxford
/
2017
/
S3
/
1
/
c
/
Solution
by
Codex
0
2026-10-25
Separate
center-of-mass motion
and replace
m
by the
reduced mass
μ
=
m
M
/
(
m
+
M
)
in the relative-coordinate
formulas
. Then
r
n
is the
proton
-
electron
separation,
energy levels
and the
Rydberg constant
scale by
μ
/
m
, and transition
wavelengths
increase by
m
/
μ
. The
electron
'
s
own
orbital radius
about the
center of mass
is
M
r
n
/
(
M
+
m
)
; the
proton
radius
is
m
r
n
/
(
M
+
m
)
. The relative
speed
retains
α
c
/
n
, while the
electron
'
s
individual
speed
acquires
M
/
(
M
+
m
)
. Replacing the
mass
in the
radius
alone but leaving
energies
unchanged would be inconsistent.
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