Question

What is the principle of cyclotron?

Answer 1

Hint: Cyclotron is a device used to accelerate charged particles to high energies. It is devised by Lawrence. Cyclotron works on the principle that a charged particle moving normal to magnetic Field experiences magnetic Lorentz force due to which the particle proves in a circular path.

Complete step by step answer:
As we know Cyclotron is a machine which is used to accelerate charged particles to very high speed (to very high energy).
A cyclotron is a machine that accelerates charged particles or ions to high energies. It was invented to investigate the nuclear structure by E.I. Lawrence and M.S. Livingston in 1934. Both electric and magnetic fields are used in the cyclotron to increase the energy of the charged particle. As both the fields are perpendicular to each other, they are called cross fields.
In a cyclotron, charged particles accelerate onwards from center along a spiral path. These particles are held to a spiral trajectory by a static magnetic field and accelerated by a rapidly varying electric field.

Uses of cyclotron:
- It is used to study nuclear reactors.
- Cyclotron is used to insert an ion in a solid.
- It is also used to start radioactive decay.

Note:
It is an electrically powered machine which produces a beam of charged particles that can be used for medical industrial and research processes. As the name suggests, a Cyclotron accelerates charged particles in a spiral path, which allows for a much longer acceleration path than a straight line accelerator.