Enriching uranium with a mass spectrometer
Electricity and Magnetism
Level
3
A rudimentary way to enrich uranium for use in nuclear energy or weaponry is to pass an ionized beam of vaporized uranium through a modified mass spectrometer known as a calutron. Assuming an electronmagnet that produces a magnetic field of magnitude \(B = 1\text{ T}\) and a voltage oven rated at a potential difference of \(V = 2\text{ kV}\) are available, what is the radius of the path traveled by the uranium-235 being isolated? Assume the beam of vaporized nitrogen is ionized to a charge of \(q = 1.6\times10^{-19}\text{C}.\)
by
July Thomas