Finding period of revolution of an electron (fairly )?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion focuses on calculating the period of revolution of a doubly ionized atom in a magnetic field after being accelerated by a voltage. The radius of curvature was successfully determined to be 0.601 m. The user attempted to derive the period using various equations, ultimately arriving at a value of approximately 0.0000143156 seconds, but expressed uncertainty about its accuracy. Suggestions were made to use scientific notation for clarity and to ensure proper significant figures. The conversation highlights the importance of correctly applying physics equations to solve for the period of revolution.
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Finding period of revolution of an electron (fairly urgent)?

Homework Statement



A doubly ionized atom (charge = +2e) whose mass is 3.65E-26 kg is accelerated by a voltage of 3950.0 V and enters a region where a uniform magnetic field B = 0.0500 T acts perpendicular to its motion.

a) What is the radius of curvature of the path of the ion in the B-field?

b) What is its period of revolution?

Homework Equations



F=QvB
F=m4pi2r/T2
F=mv2/r

The Attempt at a Solution



I did the first part, the correct answer is 0.601 m.

I've tried a few different methods for b), I won't list them all.

I rearranged the third equation for v, plugged it into the first equation, plugged that into the second equation and rearranged for T.

T=√(4π2m2/(Q2B2))

Solved that for 0.0000143156 s

No idea if this is right or not, but I doubt it because I think I need to use voltages and energies, but that didn't work when I tried it.
 
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Your result looks okay for T, but you should use scientific notation to avoid all those leading zeros! Also trim for reasonable significant figures :smile:

If you already had the radius of the circle and speed, you could simply have found the time to travel one circumference :wink:
 


Yea, I tried that, but kept getting the wrong answer =/ I think the value I listed was right after all, thanks!
 
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