A beam of charged particles consisting of protons, electrons, deuterons, and singly ionized helium atoms and H2 molecules all pass through a velocity selector, all emerging with speeds of 2.5 x 106 m/s. The beam then enters a region of uniform magnetic field B = 0.40 T directed perpendicular to their velocity. Compute the radius of curvature of the path of each type of particle.

Question

eujc21 · Answer

When I use this equation. $$R=(mv)/(qB)$$ I get a fairly large number. such as xxx*10^28 for the proton alone, am I messing up somewhere?

shane_b · Answer

I'm not familiar with that particular formula but assuming it's correct,  I'm getting a very different value:$$R=\frac{(1.67x10^{-27}kg)(2.5x10^6m/s)}{(1.6x10^{-19}C)(0.4T)}=0.0652m$$

shane_b · Answer

^^ That's of course, for a proton.

eujc21 · Answer

Yeah I actually ended up figuring out that I was using the wrong values