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In physics, the Lorentz force is the force exerted on a charged particle in an electromagnetic field or just magnetic field. The particle will experience an electric field's exerted force qE and a magnetic field's exerted force qv × B. Combined they give the Lorentz force equation
in an electromagnetic field
just magnetic field
where E is the electric field strength, B is the magnetic field induction, 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.
The Lorentz force is a principle used in many devices such as a Mass spectrometer or even a Railgun.
See also
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia Encyclopedia article "Lorentz Force"
