Moving Charges And Magnetism Ques 6

6. In a mass spectrometer used for measuring the masses of ions, the ions are initially accelerated by an electric potential $V$ and then made to describe semicircular path of radius $R$ using a magnetic field $B$. If $V$ and $B$ are kept constant, the ratio $(\frac{\text{ charge on the ion }}{\text{ mass of the ion }})$ will be proportional to

[2007]

(a) $1 / R^{2}$

(b) $R^{2}$

(c) $R$

(d) $1 / R$

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Answer:

Correct Answer: 6.(a)

Solution:

  1. (a) In mass spectrometer, when ions are accelerated through potential $V$

$\frac{1}{2} m v^{2}=q V$ $\quad$ …….(i)

As the magnetic field curves the path of the ions in a semicircular orbit

$B q v=\frac{m v^{2}}{R} \Rightarrow v=\frac{B q R}{m} $ $\quad$ …….(ii)

Substituting (ii) in (i)

$\frac{1}{2} m[\frac{B q R}{m}]^{2}=q V$

or $\frac{q}{m}=\frac{2 V}{B^{2} R^{2}}$

Since $V$ and $B$ are constants,

$\therefore \frac{q}{m} \propto \frac{1}{R^{2}}$