How Are Electric And Magnetic Fields Used To Steer Particles In The Large Hadron Collider?

Effect of a Uniform Electric Field on the Motion of Charged Particles In an electrical field the motion of a charged particle will experience a constant upwards force with a constant vertical acceleration and a constant horizontal velocity. Because the field is uniform meaning the lines in the field will remain the same throughout the field – parallel and equispaced. Electric Field Strength: E = electric field strength F = force acting in Newton’s q = the charge in coulombs Units of E: NC-1 or Vm-1 Uniform Electric Field Strength: V = the pd between the plates d = the distance separating the plates. Units of E: NC-1 or Vm-1

Effect of a Uniform Magnetic Field on the Motion of Charged Particles When a charged particle enters a magnetic field it will be forced to change direction. If it stays in the field it will continue to change direction and will move in a circle. The force produced will provide the centripetal force on the moving particle. Force on a charged particle in a magnetic field equation: F = B q v sin θ F = force (N) B = magnetic field strength (T) q = charge on the particle (C) v = velocity of the particle (m/s) (Angle θ is between the direction of the beam and the magnetic field direction)

Motion of Charged Particles Charged particles such as electrons or protons are accelerated by an electric field to speeds almost equal to the speed of light. They are made to collide with one another and in such collisions some of the kinetic energy is turned into matter - new particles are created. The simplest particle accelerator is the electron gun. The electrons are produced by heating a cathode. The electrons 'boil' off from the cathode and are accelerated towards an anode with a small hole in it. Many of the electrons pass through the hole forming an electron ray (cathode ray). The energy of the electrons is found using Energy = eV. Linear Accelerometers

Cyclotrons The length limitation can be overcome by making the charged particles follow a circular path. In a cyclotron charged particles are accelerated across the gap between two 'D' shaped electrodes. Meanwhile a perpendicular magnetic field moves the particles in a circle. The radius of the circle increases after each successive acceleration, so the path spirals out from the source at the centre to the target on the outside.

Large Hadron Collider The collider refers to a single aspect of the project. The collider itself weighs 38,000 tonnes and spans a full circle that is 27km long or 16.5 miles. The collider sits 100m under and around Geneva on the French/Swiss border. The LHC is supported by engineers and scientists across the globe but the UK has a lead role in the project as their engineers and scientists are involved with all main experiments. The LHC accelerates two beams of atomic particles in opposite directions around the 27km collider. When the particle beams reach their maximum speed the LHC allows them to ‘collide’ at 4 points on their circular journey. Thousands of new particles are produced when particles collide and detectors, placed around the collision points, allow scientists to identify these new particles by tracking their behaviour. The detectors are able to follow the millions of collisions and new particles produced every second and identify the distinctive behaviour of interesting new particles from among the many thousands that are of little interest. As the energy produced in the collisions increases researchers are able to peer deeper into the fundamental structure of the Universe and further back in its history. In these extreme conditions unknown atomic particles may appear.