14.4.23. An electron enters a magnetic field at a velocity $\beta c$ perpendicular to the field boundary and to the induction vector $B$. Determine the residence time of the electron in the magnetic field.
Solution
When the electron enters the magnetic field, it will describe a circular path of radius $R$. To calculate the radius we need to use Newton's second law for the radial direction.
\begin{equation} \frac{m_e v^2}{R} = \frac{m_e (\beta c)^2}{R} = F \end{equation}
The force acting on the electron is the magnetic force $F = e [\vec{v} \times \vec{B}]$; because the magnetic field is perpendicular to the velocity of the electron we have $F = e \beta c B$. Finally:
\begin{equation} \frac{m_e (\beta c)^2}{R} = e \beta c B \rightarrow R = \frac{m_e \beta c}{e B} \end{equation}
Thus, the time the electron spends in the magnetic field is: