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gillgill
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In a cyclotron, why do they not use electric fields to move them in circles?
gillgill said:yea...thats enough...thanks...^^
A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator that uses electric and magnetic fields to accelerate charged particles, typically protons or ions, to high speeds. The particles are injected into the center of the cyclotron and then guided by the electric and magnetic fields in a spiral path, gaining energy with each revolution until they reach the desired energy level.
Cyclotrons do use electric fields as part of their acceleration process. However, they do not solely rely on electric fields because the particles would quickly lose energy due to collisions with gas molecules in the vacuum chamber. The magnetic field in a cyclotron helps to confine the particles in a circular path and prevent these collisions, allowing them to reach higher energies.
No, cyclotrons are specifically designed to accelerate charged particles. This is because the particles must be able to interact with the electric and magnetic fields in order to be accelerated. Neutral particles, such as photons, cannot be accelerated in a cyclotron.
Cyclotrons differ from other types of particle accelerators, such as linear accelerators or synchrotrons, in their design and method of particle acceleration. Cyclotrons use a fixed magnetic field and a varying electric field to accelerate particles, while linear accelerators use a series of fixed electric fields to accelerate particles in a straight line. Synchrotrons use a combination of both electric and magnetic fields to accelerate particles in a circular path.
Cyclotrons have a variety of practical applications, including medical imaging and cancer treatment, production of radioisotopes for medical and industrial use, and research in nuclear and particle physics. They are also used in the production of compact neutron sources for research and industrial purposes.