Lesson 19: Ch.

28 (2-3) – Crossed Fields

1 The Lorentz Force electron gun on the left makes a beam The current can composed of electrons
of electrons but we can’t see them indi- moving up (against the direction of the
While not named explicitly in the book, vidually. Thompson made the beam go current) or positive charges moving down
the combination of electric and magnetic through a region of crossed fields (one (in the same direction). But which one?
forces are referred to as Lorentz Forces from a magnet, one from a capacitor) as
and we can write both in one equation. shown in the center. Thompson played
F~Lorentz = F~E + F~B = q(E~ + (~v × F~B )) with the field strengths until FE and FB
were in balance and the beam wasn’t de-
Note that the force is along the direc- flected. The forces from E and B were
tion of E~ but is perpendicular to B.~ balanced and we could find v!

FE = FB
2 Crossed Fields |q|E = |q|vB sin φ
So F~E and F~B can simultaneously in play v = E/B
we use them for a lot of cool technology. We know the v for the electrons be-
In particular, the cross product means The figure shows the case of electrons
cause it’s basically an electron gun! trying to move up the wire. The magnetic
you can balance the electric and magnetic
force when E and B are crossed fields.
q force makes them deflect to the right in
v = 2qV m the picture. Verify that with the RHR.
Direct a magnetic and electric field of
the right strengths the right way (perpen- If the charges were actually positive
Combining we can find the ratio of
dicularly), and the Lorentz force is zero and moving in the opposite direction you
charge to mass of the electron. It took
for some magic velocity v. J.J. Thompson can verify they would STILL be forced to
the work of Millikan to get q and thus
used crossed fields to study the electron the right wide of the wire.
find the electron’s mass.
even though he couldn’t see them. The potential difference between the
q E2 right and left side of the wire is measur-
m = 2B 2 V
able. We find the potential difference says
the charge has to be negative.
3 The Hall Effect By moving charges, the Hall Effect
generates a potential V across any neu-
How do we know electrical currents are tral conductor moving in a magnetic field
electrons? The Hall Effect, discovered at with a width d perpendicular to the di-
Thompson knew the magic velocity Johns Hopkins. Consider passing a cur- rection of travel:
for electrons would constrain their charge rent through a wire as shown with a B
V = vBd
and mass. His setup is in the picture. An field directed into the page.

1
 Exercise 1: A particle with charge Exercise 2: (a) An electron beam Exercise 3: A strip of copper carries
−2 C moves in the +y direction at 4 m/s travels due south in an east-pointing elec- current toward the bottom of the page.
in a region where E ~ = +2̂ N/C and tric field. What must be the direction
~
B = −1ı̂ T. What is the net force on the of the applied magnetic field to keep the
particle? beam moving due south? (up, down,
north, south, east or west?) (b) If the i
electric field has strength 4000 V/m and
the magnetic field must be set to 0.0200 T
to keep the beam moving straight, what (a) What is the direction of the electric
is the speed of the beam? field in the copper?
(b) What direction are the charge carri-
ers moving?
(c) Now a magnetic field is applied, di-
rected into the page. What direc-
tion does this magnetic field deflect
the drifting electrons?
(d) The electrons piling up on one side
of the strip set up a horizontal elec-
tric field (in addition to the vertical
field that caused the current in the
first place). What is the direction of
this new electric field?
(e) Which side of the strip (left or right)
is at the higher potential?
(f) Which direction does the horizontal
E-field push the rest of the drifting
electrons?
(g) Suppose instead that the charge car-
riers are positive, with the current
still flowing downward in the copper
strip and the magnetic field still di-
rected into the page. Then which
side (left or right) would be at the
higher potential?