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Derivation of Comptons
Equation

Let 1 and 2 be the wavelengths of the incident and scattered x rays, respectively, as
shown in Figure 3-21. The corresponding momenta are
p1 

E 1 hf1
h


c
c
1

and
p2 

E2
h

c
2

using f   c. Since Compton used the K line of molybdenum (  0.0711 nm; see
Figure 3-18b), the energy of the incident x ray (17.4 keV) is much greater than the
binding energy of the valence electrons in the carbon scattering block (about 11 eV);
therefore, the carbon electron can be considered to be free.
Conservation of momentum gives
p1  p2  pe

m
E1 = hf1
p1 = h / 1

1
pe = E 2 E02
c

E2 = hf2
p2 = h / 2

Fig. 3-21 The scattering of x rays can be treated as a collision of a photon of initial momentum h/1 and a free electron. Using conservation of momentum and energy, the momentum of
the scattered photon h/2 can be related to the initial momentum, the electron mass, and the
scattering angle. The resulting Compton equation for the change in the wavelength of the x ray
is Equation 3-40.
(Continued)

16

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or
p 2e  p 21  p 22
2p 1 p 2
 p 21  p 22
2p1 p2 cos 

3-41

where pe is the momentum of the electron after the collision and  is the scattering
angle for the photon, measured as shown in Figure 3-21. The energy of the electron
before the collision is simply its rest energy E0  mc2 (see Chapter 2). After the collision, the energy of the electron is (E 20  p 2ec 2)1/2.
Conservation of energy gives
p1c  E 0  p2c  (E 20  p 2ec 2)1/2
Transposing the term p2c and squaring, we obtain
E 20  c 2( p1
p2)2  2cE 0(p1
p2)  E 20  p 2ec 2
or
p 2e  p 21  p 22
2p1 p2 

2E 0(p1
p2)
c

3-42

If we eliminate p 2e from Equations 3-41 and 3-42, we obtain

E 0(p1
p2)
 p1 p2(1
cos )
c
Multiplying each term by hc/p1 p2E0 and using   h/p, we obtain Comptons equation:
2
1 

hc
hc
(1
cos ) 
(1
cos )
E0
mc 2

or
2
1 

h
(1
cos )
mc

3-40