BRAINCAKEParticle Accelerators
Particle accelerators give charged particles very high energies. Fast particles can then be collided with a fixed target or with each other. High energies are needed to probe very small structures and to create new, massive particles from energy (ΔE = c2Δm).
Accelerators use two kinds of field:
• Electric fields accelerate the particles. The field does work on a charged particle, increasing its kinetic energy. A charge Q accelerated through a potential difference V gains energy:
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More in Particle Physics
- Alpha Particle Scattering and the Nuclear Model
- The Linear Accelerator
- The Cyclotron
- Particle Detectors
- Tracks in a Magnetic Field
- Relativistic Energies and GeV
- Mass in MeV/c2
- Particles and Antiparticles
All 19 lessons in Particle Physics · All Edexcel A-level Physics topics