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Ch 29: The Magnetic Field
Knight Calc - Physics for Scientists and Engineers 5th Edition
Knight Calc5th EditionPhysics for Scientists and EngineersISBN: 9780137344796Not the one you use?Change textbook
Chapter 29, Problem 65

The uniform 30 mT magnetic field in FIGURE P29.65 points in the positive z-direction. An electron enters the region of magnetic field with a speed of 5.0 x 106 m/s and at an angle of 30° above the xy-plane. Find the radius r and the pitch p of the electron's spiral trajectory.

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Step 1: Break the velocity vector of the electron into two components: one parallel to the magnetic field (v_parallel) and one perpendicular to the magnetic field (v_perpendicular). Use trigonometry: v_parallel = v * cos(30°) and v_perpendicular = v * sin(30°), where v = 5.0 x 10^6 m/s.
Step 2: Calculate the radius of the circular motion (r) caused by the perpendicular velocity component using the formula r = (m * v_perpendicular) / (q * B), where m is the mass of the electron (9.11 x 10^-31 kg), q is the charge of the electron (1.6 x 10^-19 C), and B is the magnetic field strength (30 mT = 30 x 10^-3 T).
Step 3: Determine the angular frequency (ω) of the electron's circular motion using the formula ω = (q * B) / m. This will help in understanding the time period of the circular motion.
Step 4: Calculate the pitch (p) of the spiral trajectory, which is the distance the electron travels parallel to the magnetic field in one complete revolution. Use the formula p = v_parallel * T, where T is the time period of the circular motion given by T = 2π / ω.
Step 5: Combine the results to describe the electron's spiral trajectory, noting that the radius (r) determines the size of the circular motion and the pitch (p) determines the spacing between successive loops along the z-axis.

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Key Concepts

Here are the essential concepts you must grasp in order to answer the question correctly.

Magnetic Force on a Charged Particle

When a charged particle, such as an electron, moves through a magnetic field, it experiences a magnetic force that is perpendicular to both its velocity and the magnetic field direction. This force causes the particle to move in a circular or spiral path, depending on its angle of entry into the field. The magnitude of the force is given by F = q(v × B), where q is the charge, v is the velocity, and B is the magnetic field strength.
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Radius of Circular Motion

The radius of the circular motion of a charged particle in a magnetic field can be determined using the formula r = mv/(qB), where m is the mass of the particle, v is its speed, q is its charge, and B is the magnetic field strength. This relationship shows that the radius is directly proportional to the speed of the particle and inversely proportional to both its charge and the magnetic field strength.
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Pitch of the Spiral Trajectory

The pitch of the spiral trajectory refers to the distance the particle moves along the direction of the magnetic field (z-direction) during one complete revolution around the field lines. It can be calculated using the formula p = v_z * T, where v_z is the component of the velocity in the z-direction and T is the period of the circular motion. The pitch indicates how far the particle travels along the field lines as it spirals.
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Related Practice
Textbook Question

An antiproton (same properties as a proton except that q = -e) is moving in the combined electric and magnetic fields of FIGURE P29.61. What are the magnitude and direction of the antiproton's acceleration at this instant?

Textbook Question

FIGURE P29.64 shows a mass spectrometer, an analytical instrument used to identify the various molecules in a sample by measuring their charge-to-mass ratio q/m. The sample is ionized, the positive ions are accelerated (starting from rest) through a potential difference ∆V, and they then enter a region of uniform magnetic field. The field bends the ions into circular trajectories, but after just half a circle they either strike the wall or pass through a small opening to a detector. As the accelerating voltage is slowly increased, different ions reach the detector and are measured. Consider a mass spectrometer with a 200.00 mT magnetic field and an 8.0000 cm spacing between the entrance and exit holes. To five significant figures, what accelerating potential differences ∆V are required to detect the ions (a) O₂⁺ (b) N₂⁺ and (c) CO⁺? See Exercise 29 for atomic masses; the mass of the missing electron is less than 0.001 u and is not relevant at this level of precision. Although N₂⁺ and CO⁺ both have a nominal molecular mass of 28, they are easily distinguished by virtue of their slightly different accelerating voltages. Use the following constants: 1 u = 1.6605 x 10⁻²⁷ kg, e = 1.6022 x 10⁻¹⁹ C.

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Textbook Question

A 65-cm-diameter cyclotron uses a 500 V oscillating potential difference between the dees. What is the maximum kinetic energy of a proton if the magnetic field strength is 0.75 T?

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Textbook Question

Controlled fusion is a possible future energy source that would harness the same nuclear fusion reactions that power the sun. The simplest fusion reaction is ²H⁺ + ²H⁺ → ³He⁺⁺ + n + energy, in which nuclei of two deuterium atoms fuse into a nucleus while ejecting a neutron and releasing a substantial amount of energy. Deuterium is not an element but is the name given to 'heavy hydrogen,' in which the nucleus is not simply a proton but a proton and a neutron, with atomic mass 2 u. Two positive deuterium nuclei, which repel each other, can get close enough to fuse only if they have very high speeds. This can be achieved by creating a plasma of ionized deuterium gas at a temperature of 1.0 x 10⁸ K. No material substance can contain a plasma at this temperature, so the idea is to contain the plasma with magnetic fields. Consider the simplest model of using a solenoid to confine the ions to cyclotron motion around the field lines. The plasma ions have a range of speeds, and it's necessary to contain all the ions with speeds up to three times the rms speed at the plasma temperature. What magnetic field strength is needed to keep the fastest ions in 20-cm-diameter cyclotron orbits? The actual magnetic fields are considerably more complex, but your answer is a reasonable estimate of the required field strengths.

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Textbook Question

Particle accelerators, such as the Large Hadron Collider, use magnetic fields to steer charged particles around a ring. Consider a proton ring with 36 identical bending magnets connected by straight segments. The protons move along a 1.0-m-long circular arc as they pass through each magnet. What magnetic field strength is needed in each magnet to steer protons around the ring with a speed of 2.5 x 107 m/s? Assume that the field is uniform inside the magnet, zero outside.

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Textbook Question

A proton moves in the uniform fields E = 2500 k V/m and B = 0.50 k T. At t = 0 s the proton is moving in a 1.0-cm-diameter circle in the xy-plane. How many revolutions will the proton have made during this time interval?

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