Electronvolt

Summary: An electronvolt (symbol: eV) is the amount of energy gained by a single unbound electron when it falls through an electrostatic potential difference of one volt. This is a very small amount of energy: 1 eV = 1.602176462 × 10-19 J. Einstein taught us that energy is equivalent to mass, as famously expressed in the formula E = m c². Particle physicists thus use the eV/c² as unit of mass, with the advantage that conversion between mass and energy is then tr ...

Electronvolt

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An electronvolt (symbol: eV) is the amount of energy gained by a single unbound electron when it falls through an electrostatic potential difference of one volt. This is a very small amount of energy:

1 eV = 1.602176462 × 10^-19 J.

Einstein taught us that energy is equivalent to mass, as famously expressed in the formula E = m c². Particle physicists thus use the eV/c² as unit of mass, with the advantage that conversion between mass and energy is then trivial. For example, an electron and a positron, each with a mass of 511 keV/c² (this is not the actual mass of a proton), can annihilate to yield 1.022 MeV of energy.

1 eV/c² = 1.783 × 10^-36 kg

1 keV/c² = 1.783 × 10^-33 kg

1 MeV/c² = 1.783 × 10^-30 kg

1 GeV/c² = 1.783 × 10^-27 kg

For comparison, charged particles in a nuclear explosion range from 0.3 to 3 MeV. The typical atmospheric molecule has an energy of about 0.03 eV.

To convert a particle's energy in electronvolts into its temperature in kelvin, multiply by 11,605 (see Boltzmann constant).

See also: Orders of magnitude

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