Question

Draw a neat labelled diagram of ‘cyclotron’.

Answer 1

Hint: Let us see in brief how a cyclotron works-
A machine used to accelerate charged particles to high energies is Cyclotron. Cyclotron operates on the assumption that magnetic Lorentz force is encountered by a charged particle travelling perpendicular to a magnetic field because of which the particle travels along a circular direction.


Stepwise solution:

HF OSCILLATOR: It is named as a high frequency oscillator, whose function in the cyclotron is to change the potential difference. It is connected across both the Dees.

VACUUM CHAMBER: A cyclotron accelerates charged particles into a radial direction from the middle of a flat cylindrical vacuum chamber. The particles are kept by a rigid magnetic field on a radial trajectory and propelled by a continuously changing electric field (radio frequency).

DEES: In a cyclotron, in an evacuated chamber between the poles of a magnet, two hollow semi-circular electrodes, or Dees, shaped as ‘D’ s, are placed back to back, separated by a short distance.The polarity of the RF voltage reverses every time after the particles pass to the other Dee electrode.

DEFLECTION PLATE: The deflector plate is used in such a way that the direction of the spiralling charged particle inside a cyclotron shifts to the point where it needs to be. It is present before the target to adjust the direction of motion of the accelerated protons.

ACCELERATED PROTON: These are highly energetic charged particles,driven by an alternating electrical field, in a steady magnetic field.

Note: Cyclotron is an electrically driven mechanism that generates a beam of charged particles which find uses in medical, industrial and research applications. It is also used to produce radioactive isotopes.