0
$\begingroup$

I am very interested in finding out how a moving charged particle would react if it were to enter into an area with parallel magnetic fields and also if it were to enter into an area with conical magnetic fields.

Please reference the conceptual drawing below.

Say I were to build an apparatus that had four solid-core, rubber-covered, 8 AWG copper wires, each wire being 2 meters long, all of them running parallel to one another, and positioned 1 cm from one another. A DC current of 50 amps would be running on each of the wires and the current flow on each wire would be in the same direction.

(For the sake of focusing on the conceptual part of this inquiry, I have left out the details of how this apparatus could physically be built, such as how the wires would be held in place and how the electricity would be supplied to each wire.)

If this apparatus was then placed inside a vacuum chamber and a negatively-charged particle, an oxygen ion for example, was shot down the area between all four wires, moving at a velocity of say 100 m/s, would the oxygen ion travel through this area without any momentum/velocity loss?

Also, if I was to then rearrange these four wires so that they were positioned in a conical arrangement to one another, where at one end the wires were 1 cm apart and at the other end they were 10 cm apart from one another, and I then fired another oxygen ion down the middle area, would the oxygen ion travel through this area without any momentum/velocity loss?

enter image description here

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ Are you firing the oxygen ion through the exact center of each configuration? $\endgroup$
    – probably_someone
    Commented Jan 8, 2019 at 23:16
  • $\begingroup$ @probably_someone, yes $\endgroup$
    – user217618
    Commented Jan 8, 2019 at 23:18

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
0
$\begingroup$

In both of your examples, the magnetic field in the center of the configuration is always zero. The magnetic field vectors from the four wires exactly cancel out when added. Therefore, there is no difference between the two configurations, and in fact there is no difference if you remove the wires entirely, as long as the oxygen ion is fired through the exact center of each configuration.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
0
$\begingroup$

Since a magnetic field cannot do work on a charged particle, the magnitude of the velocity or momentum will not change, there will be no 'loss' regardless of the configuration.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.