Electrostatic Deflection - Explanation

Explanation

The Lorentz force acts on any charged particle in an electromagnetic field. Electrostatic deflection uses a special, simplified case of this general effect by limiting the field to an electric field. An electric field applies a force on a particle that is proportional to the strength of the field and to the charge on the particle. The direction of the applied force is the same as the direction of the electric field. For electrostatic deflection, the applied electric field is arranged so that it lies in the plane perpendicular to the initial direction of the stream. The particles are accelerated by this force in proportion to the charge of the particles. The path the particles follow depends on their sideways acceleration and their velocity when they enter the deflecting field. Therefore it is important for good control of the direction that the particles in the stream have a uniform charge to mass ratio and that they move at a uniform speed.

Read more about this topic:  Electrostatic Deflection

Famous quotes containing the word explanation:

    What causes adolescents to rebel is not the assertion of authority but the arbitrary use of power, with little explanation of the rules and no involvement in decision-making. . . . Involving the adolescent in decisions doesn’t mean that you are giving up your authority. It means acknowledging that the teenager is growing up and has the right to participate in decisions that affect his or her life.
    Laurence Steinberg (20th century)

    Are cans constitutionally iffy? Whenever, that is, we say that we can do something, or could do something, or could have done something, is there an if in the offing—suppressed, it may be, but due nevertheless to appear when we set out our sentence in full or when we give an explanation of its meaning?
    —J.L. (John Langshaw)

    How strange a scene is this in which we are such shifting figures, pictures, shadows. The mystery of our existence—I have no faith in any attempted explanation of it. It is all a dark, unfathomed profound.
    Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)