megaelectron

The megaelectron is a unit of energy, derived from the electronvolt. It is equivalent to one million electronvolts. The electronvolt itself is a unit of energy commonly used in atomic and particle physics. It represents the amount of kinetic energy gained by a single electron when it is accelerated from rest through an electric potential difference of one volt. Therefore, one megaelectron, or 1 MeV, is equal to 1,000,000 electronvolts. This unit is particularly useful for describing the energies of subatomic particles, such as those produced in particle accelerators or emitted during radioactive decay. For instance, the energy released in certain nuclear reactions or the kinetic energy of gamma rays is often expressed in MeV. The conversion to SI units is approximately 1.602 x 10^-13 joules.