Why does a particle follow a spiral path after the collision in a particle accelerator? Is there a connection to the Magnus effect?
Answer
Dear Paul,
You’ve probably noticed that spiral shape in photos of bubble chambers or cloud chambers.
In those rooms, the experimenters applied a strong magnetic field, perpendicular to the image plane. A charged particle describes a circular path in a magnetic field. The radius of the orbit is proportional to the speed of the particle and so they can determine the speed of the observed particles.
But the particles are constantly losing some energy because they ionize the atoms of the environment (gas or liquid). As a result, they also slow down and the radius of their orbit gradually becomes smaller, creating that spiral shape.
So it has nothing to do with the flow of fluids, and therefore nothing to do with the Magnus effect
Answered by
prof. French Cerulus
physics, especially classical theoretical mechanics, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, history of physics .
Old Market 13 3000 Leuven
https://www.kuleuven.be/
.