Force on charged particle to enter electric field perpendicularly

AI Thread Summary
To enter an electric field perpendicularly, a charged particle typically requires an external force due to the influence of the electric field on its trajectory. If a particle is already within the field of a capacitor, it can move perpendicularly at a constant velocity without additional force. However, entering the field perpendicularly is complicated by edge effects in real capacitors, which necessitate a significant force to overcome the attraction to the charged plates. The discussion highlights that maintaining a perpendicular orientation to the field could result in orbital motion around the field. Overall, external force is often needed for a charged particle to enter an electric field perpendicularly.
vishnukorde
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how much force, if at all. is required to make a particle enter an electric field perpendicularly...
eg, to let a charged particle enter a charged capacitor perpendicularly, is external force required??
 
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I don't think a charged particle CAN enter a field perpendicularly. If it is always perpendicular to the field then it would orbit the field.

If it was already in the field within the capacitor then it shouldn't take any force to move it, at a constant velocity, perpendicular to the field.
 
what does this mean,"if it is always perpendicular to the field then it would orbit the field."...why?
 
vishnukorde said:
what does this mean,"if it is always perpendicular to the field then it would orbit the field."...why?

If your perpendicular to the field exiting the charged object then you are going around it considering it is a point object which all electric objects are from an outside the field point of view.
 
vishnukorde said:
how much force, if at all. is required to make a particle enter an electric field perpendicularly...eg, to let a charged particle enter a charged capacitor perpendicularly, is external force required??

In a real capacitor, edge effects cannot be ignored and so a reasonably large force would be required to enter the region perpendicularly, since the charged particle would be attracted to the appropriate plate.
 
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