Electrostatic particle accelerator: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:56, 31 July 2020

Revision as of 07:47, 31 July 2020

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[[Image:Westinghouse Van de Graaff atom smasher - cutaway.png|thumb|upright=1.5|The [[Westinghouse Atom Smasher]], an early [[Van de Graaff accelerator]] built 1937 at the Westinghouse Research Center in Forest Hills, Pennsylvania. The cutaway shows the fabric belts that carry charge up to the mushroom-shaped high voltage electrode. To improve insulation the machine was enclosed in a 65 ft. pressure vessel which was pressurized to 120 psi during operation. The high pressure air increased the voltage on the machine from 1 MV to 5 MV.]]

An '''electrostatic nuclearparticle accelerator''' is one of the two main types of [[particle accelerator]]s, wherein which [[charged particlesparticle]]s can beare accelerated by subjection to a static high voltageenergy potential.by passing Thethrough a static [[high voltage]] methodpotential. is contrastedThis contrasts with the dynamicother fieldscategory usedof inparticle accelerator, [[Particle accelerator#Oscillating field particle accelerators|oscillating field particle accelerators]]., in Owingwhich tothe theirparticles simplerare design,accelerated historicallyby thesepassing accelerators weresuccessively developedthrough earlier.multiple voltage Thesedrops machinescreated areby operatedoscillating atvoltages loweron energyelectrodes. than someOwing largerto oscillatingtheir fieldsimpler acceleratorsdesign, andhistorically toelectrostatic thetypes extent thatwere the energyfirst regimeparticle scalesaccelerators. with theThe costmaximum ofparticle theseenergy machines,produced inby broadelectrostatic termsaccelerators theseis machineslimited areby lessthe expensiveaccelerating thanvoltage higheron energythe machinesmachine, andwhich asis suchlimited theyby are[[electrical muchbreakdown|insulation more commonbreakdown]]. ManyOscillating universitiesaccelerators worldwidedo not have electrostaticthis acceleratorslimitation, forso researchthey purposescan achieve higher particle energies than electrostatic machines.

However these machines have advantages such as lower cost, and the ability to produce continuous beams and higher beam currents, so they are the most widely used particle accelerators. They are used in industrial irradiating applications such as plastic [[shrink wrap]] production, high power [[X-ray machine]]s and [[radiation therapy]] in medicine, and sterilization. Many universities worldwide have electrostatic accelerators for research purposes. More powerful accelerators usually incorporate an electrostatic machine as their first stage, to accelerate particles to a high enough velocity to inject into the main accelerator.

== Details ==