Vacuum Bubbles

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photino
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Re: Vacuum Bubbles

Post by photino » Fri May 06, 2011 11:50 pm

Not sure what you are looking for, but an electric field will accelerate anything carrying an electric charge. It does not care about which ion or particle, it only cares about its charge. The acceleration is then simply q/m times E, where E is the electric field strength, and q and m are the charge and mass of the particle.

Stephen
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Re: Vacuum Bubbles

Post by Stephen » Fri May 06, 2011 11:57 pm

oxodoes told me in chat a few months ago that the reason iron can be compared to lead is because of the way heavy ions behave in an electric field. I have no idea what he meant by that, and that's what I'm trying to figure out.

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photino
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Re: Vacuum Bubbles

Post by photino » Sat May 07, 2011 12:02 am

Probably it was in the context of cosmic rays - any electric field out there that manages to accelerate iron ions or protons to cosmic ray speeds will necessarily also accelerate all the other charged particles hanging out in the neighbourhood (gold ions, lead ions, whatever).

Stephen
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Re: Vacuum Bubbles

Post by Stephen » Sat May 07, 2011 12:06 am

Yes, I believe it was in the context of cosmic rays. I know I've gone through it before, but for some reason my anxiety regarding vacuum bubbles came back. But thanks again for the reassuring answers, photino and Kasuha.

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