Teaching plan 7B.

1 Particle accelerators
Student Book links Specification links Links to prior learning Suggested teaching order
● 7B.1 ● 4.5.114 ● Magnetic flux density 1. Linear particle accelerators.
● 4.5.115 ● Charged particles in 2. Charged particles travelling in circles in magnetic
magnetic fields fields.
● Circular motion equations 3. The cyclotron.
Learning objectives 4. The synchrotron.

● Describe the roles of electric and magnetic fields in particle accelerators.

p
● Derive and use the equation r  for a charged particle in a magnetic field.
BQ
● Explain why high energies are required to investigate the structure of the nucleus.
Key terms Practical skills
● Linear accelerator There are no new practical skills in this topic.
● Cyclotron
● Synchrotron
Maths skills Digital learning ideas
● Recognise and make use of appropriate units in calculations (C.0.1). ● There are several helpful simulations of a
● Recognise and use expressions in decimal and standard form (C.0.2). cyclotron available on the internet.
● Understand and use the symbols: =, <, <<, >>, >, ∝, ≈, Δ (C.2.1). ● There are several interesting video models also
available online.
● Change the subject of an equation, including non-linear equations (C.2.2).
● Substitute numerical values into algebraic equations using appropriate units for physical
quantities (C.2.3).
● Solve algebraic equations, including quadratic equations (C.2.4).
● Visualise and represent 2D and 3D forms including two-dimensional representations of 3D
objects (C.4.2).
Pre-unit homework suggestions
● Calculate the forces involved in causing circular motion for a range of objects, such as the Earth orbiting the Sun, or a satellite orbiting Mars.

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 Suggested starter activities
1. Demonstrate the effect of a magnetic field on the
operation of a cathode ray tube.
2. Students use circular motion equations to calculate the
period of an object travelling in a circle of radius 2.0 m at
a constant speed of 30 m s–1. They can then determine
the centripetal acceleration and hence the force required
to cause this motion if the object has a mass of 0.5 kg.
3. Ask students: Could a magnetic force field be used to
deflect bullets? Discuss what could happen and what
would be required to achieve it.
Suggested main activities
1. Recap the acceleration of charged particles through
electric fields. Discuss how this is applied in linear
accelerators.
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Equipment Teacher notes
Cathode ray television or Demonstrate that a magnet can be used to distort the
oscilloscope, magnet image on a cathode ray tube. Discuss the behaviour of
the electrons in the tube and the forces acting on them.
Use this opportunity to discuss the acceleration of the
electrons by an electric field and the normal way the
beam is deflected (by a set of charged plates).
This activity revises some of the key equations that
students will use during this topic. This will lead on to
magnetic forces; explain the behaviour of charged
particles in magnetic fields.
Students may suggest that the bullet becomes charged
and try to work out the type of field that would be
needed to deflect its path so that it misses a target.
Equipment Teacher notes
The limitations when producing high voltages should
be discussed alongside how the problem is overcome
by using AC voltages.
The significance of the length of each section of the
linear accelerator should be emphasised, noting that
the charged particles need to spend the same amount
of time in each section and, as they are accelerating,
this means each successive section needs to be longer
then the last.
Bertozzi’s experiment (see the Student Book) can be
discussed as an example of using experimental
techniques to verify important principles, although the
detailed structure of the apparatus is not required.
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 2. Derive the equation showing a charged particle’s radius if Students must be able to combine the two starting
mv 2
travelling in a circle in a magnetic field, r  . relationships ( F  Bqv and F  mv ), as used when
Bq r
studying magnetic fields and circular motion.
Discuss what would happen to the radius of the path if
the speed of the particle increased (as intended in a
particle accelerator).
3. Outline the design of a cyclotron, emphasising the points Photographs of real cyclotrons Ask students to suggest how the physical size of an
where acceleration takes place. accelerator could be reduced, based on the principle
that the particles only accelerate in the gaps between
charged sections. They should link this to the curved
path idea and realise that a particle can be accelerated
in a spiral.
Discuss the design of a cyclotron, noting that it can be
very much smaller than a linear structure. Photographs
will aid in this. Useful cyclotrons can be found in large
hospitals to provide a source of medical isotopes.
It is important for students to be able to describe why
the period of the alternating voltage supply can be
constant; it is independent of the radius of curvature of
the charged particle path.
4. Introduce the relativistic effects that give an expression Describe the problem associated with changes in the
for the operating frequency for a synchrotron. mass of accelerated particles and how this would
cause a particle in a cyclotron to fall out of phase with
the voltage switches if it were travelling too fast.
Discuss how this can be accounted for using more
advanced electronics. The details of these electronics
are not required, and students are not required to apply
the relativistic equations.
Suggested plenary activities Equipment Teacher notes
1. Ask students: How long are the sections of a linear Students can calculate some typical lengths for
accelerator? sections, using the AC frequency to determine the time
period and some suggested electron velocities (such
as 10% of the speed of light) or energies (such as
15 MeV).

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 2. Ask students to calculate the maximum velocity of a Students should be able to determine the momentum
proton in a cyclotron with a radius of 0.5 m and magnetic of the proton and then the velocity.
flux density of 200 mT. In addition, they could then determine the kinetic
energy of the proton and find how many times it has
passed through the gap between D-shaped electrodes,
when given an operating voltage (e.g. 50 kV).
Homework suggestions
● Research medical applications of the cyclotron. This could include the production of radionuclides and developments in proton beam therapy.
● Answer some past paper questions about particle acceleration, particularly those involving the circular motion of charged particles.
Wider reading
● Explanations of the operation and design of particle accelerators can be found online. Each of the large research groups maintains a suitable website
that students can gather information from. Searches for SLAC or CERN yield good sources of information.
Support ideas
● The relativistic effects of particle accelerators and the synchrotron are not included in the specification and so can be skipped if you are short of time.
Extension ideas
● It has been suggested that a particle accelerator could be built in an Earth orbit, or even in solar orbit. This accelerator would be able to reach much
higher collision energies than even the Large Hadron Collider. Students could research potential designs and outline advantages and disadvantages.
Potential misconceptions
● Some students struggle with the direction of magnetic fields shown by dots and crosses on diagrams.
● Ensure that students apply Fleming’s left hand rule correctly, particularly with respect to the charge on the particle (the current is in the opposite
direction to the direction of travel of an electron).
Links to future learning
● Particle detectors
● The operation of the Large Hadron Collider

Notes

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Teaching plan 7B.2 Particle detectors; 7B.3 The Large Hadron Collider
Student Book links Specification links Links to prior learning Suggested teaching order
● 7B.2 ● 4.5.114 ● The ionising properties of 1. Operation of the Geiger–Müller (GM) detector.
● 7B.3 ● 4.4.116 radiation 2. Bubble chambers and their images.
● 4.5.117 ● The effects of electric and 3. Analysing bubble chamber images.
magnetic fields on charged
particles 4. Operation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Learning objectives
● Describe the roles of electric and magnetic fields in particle detectors.
● Apply conservation of charge, energy and momentum to interactions between particles and
interpret particle tracks.
● Discuss the role of the Large Hadron Collider in particle physics research.
● Explain why high energies are required to investigate the structure of the nucleus.
Key terms Practical skills
● Bubble chamber ● Use ionising radiation, including detectors.
Maths skills Digital learning ideas
● Visualise and represent 2D and 3D forms including two-dimensional representations of 3D ● There are plenty of digital images of particle tracks
objects (C.4.2). online. There are also digital reconstructions of
paths produced by solid state detectors.
● The CERN website provides many details of the
operation of the accelerators and detectors.
Pre-unit homework suggestions
● Find and bookmark newspaper reports about the discoveries at CERN for discussion during this topic. Try to include some ‘scare stories’ in your
findings.

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 Suggested starter activities Equipment Teacher notes
1. Explain the application of Fleming’s left hand rule to Ask students to decide on the direction of the force
charged particles. acting on differently charged particles in a magnetic
field. Discuss the factors that would increase the size
of this force and therefore the acceleration of the
particle.
2. Demonstrate a spark detector. Spark detector, HT power supply If you have a spark counter, demonstrate its use and
ask students to suggest why sparks are produced
when radioactive sources are placed near it. What
factors affect the rate of spark production?
3. Discuss detection devices – any tools that can be used to Ask students to describe as many types of sensor as
detect radiation or particles. they can. How many of these do not rely on an
electrical circuit to produce results?
Examples can include eyes, GM tubes, photographic
film, CCDs, temperature sensors, ammeters,
voltmeters, pressure sensors and pH meters.
Suggested main activities Equipment Teacher notes
1. Allow students to operate a GM tube and counter using GM tube with power supply and Ensure that local rules for use of radioactive materials
natural sources of alpha and beta radiation. counter, natural sources of are followed and appropriate safety measures are
Discuss its operation in terms of ionisation. radiation (rocks, for example) taken.
Discuss the features of the detector and, in particular,
the type of radiation it is efficient at detecting. Link this
to the ionising power of the radiation and its ability to
enter the tube.
2. Show images of a bubble chamber and briefly outline its Bubble chamber images, cloud Ensure that local rules for use of radioactive materials
design. Describe how tracks are formed by ionisation. chamber, tongs, alpha and beta are followed and appropriate safety measures are
Use a cloud chamber to produce similar tracks. sources taken.

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 3. Analyse some bubble chamber track images to find the
charge and compare the momentum of different particles.
4. Students research the operation of the LHC.
Suggested plenary activities
1. Students match the descriptions of some particles to the
corresponding bubble chamber images. This can include
particles that the students have not studied yet, such as a
medium-sized particle with a positive charge, which could
be a positive pion.
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Bubble chamber images
Equipment
Bubble chamber track images
Initially concentrate on the type of charge, showing,
using Fleming’s left hand rule, that positive charges
curve in the opposite direction to negative charges.
Once this knowledge is embedded, the curvature can
be considered. The radius is proportional to the
momentum of the particle and so more massive
particles at high velocity produce less curved tracks
while lighter particles, moving more slowly, produce
tighter curves. Particles are shown to be slowing if the
tracks become more curved.
These rules should allow students to suggest some
possible particle identities (tight clockwise curves may
be positrons, while almost straight, slightly clockwise
lines may be protons). Additional particles can be
introduced later.
The sudden appearance of a pair of particle tracks
indicates that a neutral particle has caused an
interaction. Students should explain why the neutral
particle left no track.
Students can research this information independently.
They could write a report on the development,
operation and discoveries made by the project so far.
The details of any specific experiment or piece of
apparatus are not required by the specification.
A visit to CERN is possible if planned far enough in
advance.
Teacher notes
Select simple images with only a few tracks to
compare. Move on to more complex images if there is
time to do so.
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 2. Discuss the possible or perceived dangers of cutting- Newspaper reports on the LHC Show students some of the newspaper reports
edge science. produced before the operation of the LHC that describe
the possibility of it causing the end of the world (many
are archived online). Prompt students to discuss
whether the quality of science reporting in the press is
adequate.
Homework suggestions
● Justify the expense of ‘the world’s most expensive machine’ in terms of the discoveries it has produced or is likely to produce in the future.
Wider reading
● Students can find out much more about the projects at CERN from its website.
● A wide range of popular science books reference CERN and other accelerators and detector systems, including CERN: How We Found the Higgs
Boson by Michael Krause and The Particle at the End of the Universe by Sean Carroll.
● The demands of computing at CERN led to the development of the internet. Some students may be interested in reading about this.
Support ideas
● When analysing bubble chamber tracks, provide a simple diagram of Fleming’s left hand rule to assist students in determining the direction of the
forces.
● Analyse images with only one or two tracks.
Extension ideas
● There are numerous designs for making a cloud chamber that can be found online.
Potential misconceptions
● Ensure students are aware that the tracks are produced by ionisation as the particles travel, and not any form of light or radiation being emitted.
Links to future learning
● Particle classification
● Fundamental forces

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 Notes

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