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Lorentz force
In physics, the Lorentz force is the force exerted on a charged particle in an electromagnetic field. The particle will experience an electric force qE and a magnetic force qv × B. Combined they give the Lorentz force equation
where E is the electric field, B is the magnetic field, q is the charge of the particle, v is its current velocity (expressed as a vector), and × is the cross product.
Thus an electron q will simply be accelerated in the same linear orientation as the E field, but that electron will spiral when travelling through the B field, due to the orientation of the cross product operator, by the right-hand rule.
See also
09-23-2007 01:00:40
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The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details