Why do electrons not slow down?

Answer 1

Actually, electrons can be accelerated by a cyclotron. But we usually don't do that. We could chat about what the cyclotron is and what it is used for, but there is another question (link provided) that deals with the cyclotron. So lets back up just a bit to review some physics. You already know this stuff, so no worries. Electrons are really light compared to protons. The proton is over 1800 times more massive than the electron. No wonder the atom has almost all its mass in the nucleus. Focus on the electron. Electrons have so little mass that we can accelerate them to extremely high velocities with just high voltage. An X-ray tube does this. Apply a few tens of thousands of volts to electrons and then slam then into a metal target to generate the required X-rays. Piece of cake. Ah! Slamming stuff into other stuff! That's the ticket! It's all about bustin' stuff. Bustin' atoms. But when we slam electrons into atoms, they don't really react with the nuclei as often as we'd like. Think about it. The incoming electron has to get through the electon cloud of a given atom to have a chance of interacting with its nucleus. Fat chance. Oh, it can happen, but it is a "low probability" event. Very low. And even if you could hit an atomic nucleus with an electron, so what? It'd be like hitting a brick wall with a ping pong ball. So how do we smash atomic nuclei? Use different bullets, that's how. Protons make better bullets for smashing atomic nuclei than electrons. And it's 'cause a proton is heavy. It will cut through the electron clouds of atoms in a target material like a hot knife through butter. Better, actually. Instead of slamming a ping pong ball into that brick wall, how about using something like a shot put! Bam! We don't fire up a cyclotron to accelerate electrons to do atom smashing. That's inefficient. We use protons for bullets. We can also use protons with an attached neutron, like from heavy water. And we can also use light nuclei, too. Imagine a helium nucleus. It's got two protons and two neutrons (most of the time). We can take helium and strip off the two electrons and use that nucleus (which is an alpha particle) to smash stuff! Bam! Now we're talkin' atom smasher! Bigger bullets!

Answer 2

In a cyclotron, particles are accelerated by making the dees (D-shaped electrodes) positively and negatively charged. For example, if one were to put a beta particle in a cyclotron, it would speed up through the negatively charged areas (because like charges repel) and slow down in the positively charged areas. This is how it accelerates particles. But a neutron has no charge, therefore, it does not slow down or speed up in a negatively or positively charged area. That is why neutrons are not accelerated by a cyclotron.

Answer 3

Particle accelerator where charged particles repeatedly pass an electrical acceleration field while they move helically from their source in the centre of the machine to the outside. The particles are held in the helical level by a strong magnet. A cyclotron is not suitable to accelerate electrons. Due to the relativistic mass increase with growing speed the maximum energy achievable with a cyclotron is limited to about 400 MeV for protons.

Answer 4

I don't know exactly how heavy you mean, but as long as a particle has a charge, it can be accelerated in a cyclotron, regardless of its mass (I'm talking about masses on the order of the atomic level though). Cyclotrons work by synching magnetic field strength with the particle in question's velocity to keep it in a defined path while it's accelerating.

The reason the particle has to be charged is: A charged particle emits an electric field and since a moving electric field is relativistically equivalent to a magnetic field, the familiar attraction and repellent property of magnetism comes into effect, bending the particle around the cyclotron. When you're dealing with masses on the order of particles, the electromagnetic force applied to them in a cyclotron is far stronger than the gravitational force it feels due to its mass, which is why you can accelerate them in a path parallel to the Earth pretty easily.

Answer 5

As long as it has a strong magnetic field ...Yes.

Answer 6

electrons don't slow down because they always have to move.

Answer 7

neutron