Question

Consider a cyclotron in which a beam of particles of positive charge q and mass m is moving along a circular path restricted by the magnetic field B (which is perpendicular to the velocity of the particles).Part A) Before entering the cyclotron, the particles are accelerated by a potential difference V. Find the speed v with which the particles enter the cyclotron.Express your answer in terms of V, m, and q.Part B) Find the radius r of the circular path followed by the particles. The magnitude of the magnetic field is B.Express your answer in terms of v, m, B, and q.Part C) Find the period of revolution T for the particles.Express your answer in terms of m, B, and q.Part D) Find the angular frequency omega of the particles.Express your answer in terms of m, B, and q.Part E) Your goal is to accelerate the particles to kinetic energy K. What minimum radius R of the cyclotron is required?Express your answer in terms of m, q, B, and K.

Answer 1

A) $v=\sqrt{\frac{2qV}{m}}$

B) $r=\frac{mv}{qB}$

C) $T=\frac{2\pi m}{qB}$

D) $\omega=\frac{qB}{m}$

E) $r=\frac{\sqrt{2mK}}{qB}$

Explanation:

A)

When the particle is accelerated by a potential difference V, the change (decrease) in electric potential energy of the particle is given by:

$\Delta U = qV$

where

q is the charge of the particle (positive)

On the other hand, the change (increase) in the kinetic energy of the particle is (assuming it starts from rest):

$\Delta K=\frac{1}{2}mv^2$

where

m is the mass of the particle

v is its final speed

According to the law of conservation of energy, the change (decrease) in electric potential energy is equal to the increase in kinetic energy, so:

$qV=\frac{1}{2}mv^2$

And solving for v, we find the speed v at which the particle enters the cyclotron:

$v=\sqrt{\frac{2qV}{m}}$

B)

When the particle enters the region of magnetic field in the cyclotron, the magnetic force acting on the particle (acting perpendicular to the motion of the particle) is

$F=qvB$

where B is the strength of the magnetic field.

This force acts as centripetal force, so we can write:

$F=m\frac{v^2}{r}$

where r is the radius of the orbit.

Since the two forces are equal, we can equate them:

$qvB=m\frac{v^2}{r}$

And solving for r, we find the radius of the orbit:

$r=\frac{mv}{qB}$ (1)

C)

The period of revolution of a particle in circular motion is the time taken by the particle to complete one revolution.

It can be calculated as the ratio between the length of the circumference ($2\pi r$) and the velocity of the particle (v):

$T=\frac{2\pi r}{v}$ (2)

From eq.(1), we can rewrite the velocity of the particle as

$v=\frac{qBr}{m}$

Substituting into(2), we can rewrite the period of revolution of the particle as:

$T=\frac{2\pi r}{(\frac{qBr}{m})}=\frac{2\pi m}{qB}$

And we see that this period is indepedent on the velocity.

D)

The angular frequency of a particle in circular motion is related to the period by the formula

$\omega=\frac{2\pi}{T}$ (3)

where T is the period.

The period has been found in part C:

$T=\frac{2\pi m}{qB}$

Therefore, substituting into (3), we find an expression for the angular frequency of motion:

$\omega=\frac{2\pi}{(\frac{2\pi m}{qB})}=\frac{qB}{m}$

And we see that also the angular frequency does not depend on the velocity.

E)

For this part, we use again the relationship found in part B:

$v=\frac{qBr}{m}$

which can be rewritten as

$r=\frac{mv}{qB}$ (4)

The kinetic energy of the particle is written as

$K=\frac{1}{2}mv^2$

So, from this we can find another expression for the velocity:

$v=\sqrt{\frac{2K}{m}}$

And substitutin into (4), we find:

$r=\frac{\sqrt{2mK}}{qB}$

So, this is the radius of the cyclotron that we must have in order to accelerate the particles at a kinetic energy of K.

Note that for a cyclotron, the acceleration of the particles is achevied in the gap between the dees, where an electric field is applied (in fact, the magnetic field does zero work on the particle, so it does not provide acceleration).