Question

Charged Particles Moving in a Magnetic Field Ranking Task 

Five equal-mass particles (A-E) enter a region of uniform magnetic field directed into the page. They follow the trajectories illustrated in the figure. (Figure 1)

Now assume that particles A, B, C, and E all have the same magnitude of electric charge. Rank the particles A, B, C. and E on the basis of their speed. 

Rank from largest to smallest. To rank items as equivalent, overlap them.

Answer 1

Answer: \(\mathrm{A}>\mathrm{B}>\mathrm{C}=\mathrm{E}\).

Explanation:

- If a charged particle moves in a magnetic field, then the force is perpendicular to the direction of motion, so the particle takes a curved path.

- Here, the particle D does not shows any magnetic force, so \(\mathrm{D}\) is a neutral particle.

- The magnetic force can be determined by using the right hand rule, which gives the direction of the force. Here, the particle A took right side curve path due to the negatively charge.

- The figure shows the path of the \(\mathrm{B}, \mathrm{C}\), and \(\mathrm{E}\) particles. The curve paths of the particles are along the left hand side due to the positive charge. Here, the particle A has larger radius than the \(\mathrm{B}\) and \(\mathrm{E}\) particles and slightly smaller than the radius of particle \(\mathrm{A}\). The radius of particle \(\mathrm{B}\) and \(\mathrm{E}\) are same. The larger radius particles move faster than the smaller radius, so the larger radius particles travel more speed than the smaller radius. Hence, the rank of particles from the largest to the smallest based on the speed is \(\mathrm{A}>\mathrm{B}>\mathrm{C}=\mathrm{E}\)