Magnetic fields can send particles to infinity!

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Lifer
Jan 7, 2002
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Researchers from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM, Spain) have mathematically shown that particles charged in a magnetic field can escape into infinity without ever stopping. One of the conditions is that the field is generated by current loops situated on the same plane.
At the moment this is a theoretical mathematical study, but two researchers from UCM have recently proved that, in certain conditions, magnetic fields can send particles to infinity, according to the study published in the journal Quarterly of Applied Mathematics.
"If a particle 'escapes' to infinity it means two things: that it will never stop, and "something else", Antonio Diaz-Cano, one of the authors, explained to SINC. Regarding the first, the particle can never stop, but it can be trapped, doing circles forever around a point, never leaving an enclosed space.
However, the "something else" goes beyond the established limits. "If we imagine a spherical surface with a large radius, the particle will cross the surface going away from it, however big the radius may be" the researcher declares.
Scientists have confirmed through equations that some particles can escape infinity. One condition is that the charges move below the activity of a magnetic field created by current loops on the same plane. Other requirements should also be met: the particle should be on some point on this plane, with its initial speed being parallel to it and far away enough from the loops.
"We are not saying that these are the only conditions to escape infinity, there could be others, but in this case, we have confirmed that the phenomenon occurs", Diaz-Cano states. "We would have liked to have been able to try something more general, but the equations are a lot more complex".
In any case, the researchers recognise that the ideal conditions for this study are "with a magnetic field and nothing else". Reality always has other variables to be considered, such as friction and there is a distant possibility of going towards infinity.


http://phys.org/news/2012-04-magnetic-fields-particles-infinity.html
 

sactoking

Diamond Member
Sep 24, 2007
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At the moment this is a theoretical mathematical study, but two researchers from UCM have recently proved that, in certain conditions, magnetic fields can send particles to infinity, according to the study published in the journal Quarterly of Applied Mathematics.

Something which is theoretical has not been proved and something which is proven is not theoretical.
 

Matthiasa

Diamond Member
May 4, 2009
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Regarding the first, the particle can never stop, but it can be trapped, doing circles forever around a point, never leaving an enclosed space.

So it's saying it can orbit and that that orbit counts as infinity, or am I missing something?
 
Feb 6, 2007
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Infinity isn't a state, is it? Is it infinite velocity, infinite momentum (which is a function of velocity regardless), or something else?
 

The|Hunter

Member
Dec 5, 2011
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So that "something else", can be exploit as time travel? or did i misunderstood it completely lol:hmm:
 

Kadarin

Lifer
Nov 23, 2001
44,296
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Sometimes science is worse than religion.

No, it isn't. Religion is much more simple in that a designated religious authority can state that "this is how things are" without regard for such trivial things as "proof" or even "evidence".

Science, on the other hand, requires thought, testing, observation, theorization, experimentation, etc... That's often too much for people to handle.
 

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
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So it's saying it can orbit and that that orbit counts as infinity, or am I missing something?

"If a particle 'escapes' to infinity it means two things: that it will never stop, and "something else", Antonio Diaz-Cano, one of the authors, explained to SINC. Regarding the first, the particle can never stop, but it can be trapped, doing circles forever around a point, never leaving an enclosed space.
However, the "something else" goes beyond the established limits. "If we imagine a spherical surface with a large radius, the particle will cross the surface going away from it, however big the radius may be" the researcher declares.

Sounds like Zeno's paradox to me. The particle is always going farther from the centre.

Imagine you are leaving earth. On your first trip around you are 1600km up. On your second trip around you are 2400km up. On your third you are 2800 km up... 3000, 3100, 3150, 3175...

You are always getting farther - "the particle will cross the surface going away from it"

But you never leave an enclosed space a la Zeno - "can be trapped, doing circles forever around a point, never leaving an enclosed space"

To me, this doesn't satisfy the condition of "to infinity". Throughout school I took infinity to mean a point where the potential energy is zero.

For me, the particle would have to cross the surface of ANY sphere with arbitrary radius in order to get to infinity. These guys have just shown that there are certain trajectories which will cross an infinite number of spheres, but not necessarily all of them.