Exploring Particle Movement in a Magnetic Field

[delve]

Here is an excerpt from a book: Notice also how the charged particle is captured by the magnetic field, just drifting along the field direction. In my book, the field direction is in the y-direction, but the in addition to the particle having an initial y velocity, it had an initial z velocity as well. So it seems to me that the particle is drifting not in the direction of the field, but traveling in yz space. Am I understanding this right? Thank you.

 

[kcdodd]

What the author is talking about is probably the fact that *averaging* the particles position over its cyclotron period (m/qB), it really has not changed it's xz position even though it has xz velocity. However, it may have been displaced along the y direction (field line), depending on its velocity in the y direction.

 

[delve]

I understand now, thank you