Question

Recently watched video about an electromagnetic ring accelerator. I get how it works:

it uses controlled electro-magnetic coils to accelerate metal balls' Passing trough one of the coils has two stages:
when the coil passes enters the coil, the coil is powered on, generating an electro-magnetic field, accelerating the ball towards the center
as the particle passes trough the origin of the coil, the coil is quickly powered off and the ball continues forward

as the particle passes trough the origin of the coil, the coil is quickly powered off and the ball continues forward

What I am curious about is exactly what forces act on it. Searching online there appear to be some inconsistent answers, but it always either is the magnetic force or the Lorenz force law. From what I understood the magnetic force is purely for describing magnetic attraction, either between two magnets or a magnetic (ferromagnetic?) object and a magnet, while the Lorenz force law is the combination of the magnetic and electric laws.

Could somebody explain which of these two is and what exactly their formulas are in the context of the balls passing trough the coils?

Answer 1

The force acting on the metal balls in the electromagnetic ring accelerator is the Lorentz force, which is given by F = qvB. The Lorentz force accelerates the ball towards the center of the coil when it is powered on and the coil is passing through it.

Step-by-step explanation:

The force acting on the metal balls as they pass through the electromagnetic coils in the ring accelerator is known as the Lorentz force. The Lorentz force is the force experienced by a charged particle moving through a magnetic field.

It is given by the formula F = qvB, where F is the force, q is the charge of the particle, v is its velocity, and B is the magnetic field strength.

So, as the metal ball enters the coil and the coil is powered on, a magnetic field is generated, and the Lorentz force accelerates the ball towards the center. When the ball passes through the origin of the coil and the coil is quickly powered off, the ball continues forward due to its inertia.