What is particle acceleration and how does it work?

Question

And how do people make one at home?

In: 1

Answer 1

A particle accelerator is a machine that cases small charged particles to move very fast. You create them by created a large electric field. Linear accelerators are fairly simple–just create a very large voltage difference between the accelerator ends. The particle will accelerate until it hits the other end. A circular track is used to get the particles moving faster (a circle has no end)–each trip around you can add a bit more energy.

Until around the 2000’s most homes in the US had a particle accelerator. Those old large, heavy glass TVs (CRT) used a short particle accelerator to throw electrons at the phosphors on the screen.