Particle Accelerators
Question:
HOW DO PARTICLE ACCELERATIONS WORK AND WHAT ARE THEY USED FOR? if
you could please send me this information in brief it would be
much appreciated thank you.
Answer:
Particle accelerators work on the principle that charged
particles in the presence of electric and magnetic fields
experience forces. Most commonly, a charged particle is placed in
a toroid (donut shaped container) from which the air has been
removed. It is given an initial push by an electric field and a
magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the motion of the
particle to bend its path into a circle that conforms to the
toroid circumference, around the donut hole as it were. By
repeatedly pushing the particle with the electric field and
adjusting the magnetic field to always keep the particle in the
same path around the toroid, extremely high particle velocities
(and energies) can be obtained.
The high energy particles produced in particle accelerators
can be diverted from their path to exit through a tube in the
side of the toroid, like an exit ramp from a circular expressway.
At the end of this exit tube we can place targets with which the
energetic particle collides, giving us information about the
nature of the target material and/or the accelerated
particle.
There are other accelerator types but the one described here
is the most common. There are various clever schemes for
controlling the electric and magnetic fields to get the maximum
effect.
I hope you find this information useful.
J. D. Jones
M. Casco Associates.