Electron Volt: a unit of energy

The electron Volt (eV) is the kinetic energy gained by a single electron when accelerated across a potential difference of one Volt.

The electron Volt is a convenient unit of energy. For example: the maximum energy of a X-ray photon emitted by an X-ray tube with an anode voltage of 20 000 Volts ... is 20 000 eV.

Note: to convert the eV to Joules, the energy in eV is multiplied by the electronic charge (1.6x10^-19 Q).

Remembering ... E = Dmc² ... allows mass to be expressed in MeV (million eV).

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