Determination of e/m ratio

Amar Masalmeh and Donald Ng Jer Yi

Dept. of Physics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
(Dated: March 4, 2016)

I.

INTRODUCTION

In this experiment, we investigated the effect of a magnetic field on moving electrons and
use this effect to measure the ratio of the charge on the electron to its mass e/m. To do so,
we utilize a special cathode ray tube filled with hydrogen gas at a pressure of about 102
mm Hg. an electron beam is produced within the tube by an electron gun, whereby the
electrons are accelerated by an accelerating potential V applied between the electron gun
cathode and the anode. The path of the electrons in the tube is made visible by collisions
between the electrons and hydrogen molecules in the gas, which result in ionization of the
hydrogen molecules.
A magnetic field is produced in the tube by a set of Helmholtz coils, a pair of coaxial coils
of the same radius separated by a distance along the axis equal to the coils radius. This
geometry results in the production of a uniform field in the central region between the two
coils. Since the magnetic field on the axis of a current loop is known it is straightforward
to calculate the magnetic field produced by the Helmholtz coils given the current in the
coils. Throughout our experiment, we will assume that the Earths magnetic field to have
negligible effect upon our investigation.
II.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

There were 2 methods of determining the me ratio, which we found based off the relationship between the Helmholtz coils magnetic field contribution, the velocity of the electrons
within the electron beam, and finally the correlation of the magnetic force exerted upon the
beam in conjunction with the centripetal force experienced by the electron beam. We then
discovered that the electron-to-mass ratio can be described by the following equation, given
that we have an apparatus which consists of a pair of Helmholtz coils with 130 turns each:
e
(2 V )
= 2
m
B r2

(1)

T
I, and r2 represents
Where the magnetic field strength, B is found to be B = 7.793 104 A
the radius of the electron beams circular path. By substituting the expression of the magnetic field strength into the equation of me , and rearranging the equation, we arrive to the
conclusion that the electron-to-mass ratio can be determined from the gradient of a straight
line equation which relates the accelerating potential V to the current in the Helmholtz coils
and the radial measurement of the electron beams path:

e
6.073 107 I 2 r2
(2)
m
Here, there are 2 options to find the me ratio. The first option is to relate the me ratio to
V
, where we plot accelerating voltage versus radius squared for a constant current in the
r2
Helmholtz coils. The second option was to relate me to IV2 , where we relate the accelerating
voltage to the current in the Helmholtz coils for a given radius of the electron beam path.
After taking measurements for both options i.e. record the accelerating voltage and current
V =

in the coils for a given radii, we then plot the date to form a straight line and determined its
slope value, which will be used to calculate the experimental me and then compared to the
acceptable value of me .
From our experiment utilizing both options of finding the electron-to-mass ratio, we determined that the experimental value of me using option 2 ( IV2 ) provided the best ratio, which
C
was 1.74 1011 1.3 1010 kg
, and is 0.005% off the value of the acceptable value of me , which
C1
is 1.758 1011 1.3 1010 kg
. This result, while being extremely close to the acceptable
C
e
value for m , has an uncertainty of 1.3 1010 kg
, which contributes an error percentage of 7%.
This error resulted primarily from the systematic error in the radial measurement for the
electron beams circular orbit, whereby the apparatus used to measure the radius projects a
reflection of a ruler upon the cathode ray tube. Additionally, the procedure of taking radial
measurements using the projected ruler was difficult due to the electron beams blurriness,
and in addition to the radial offset contributed by the beam measurement, the first option
C
. Option 2s experimental
which relates me to rV2 resulted in an experimental me of 1.381011 kg
value proved to be much closer to the acceptable value of electron-to-mass ratio, hence more
favorable compared to option 1.

FIG. 1: This graph demonstrates the relation between the accelerating voltage and the radius
of the electron beams orbit for a constant current. The residuals plot indicates a random
distribution about zero, indicating a good fit. However, due to the radial offset of measuring
the radius, the slope for this graph produced a electron-to-mass ratio which was far off from
the acceptable value.
3

FIG. 2: This graph demonstrates the relation between the accelerating voltage and the
current in the Helmholtz coils for a radial measurement for the electron beams orbit. The
residuals plot indicates a random distribution about zero, indicating a good fit. By adjusting
the voltage and current in the apparatus to approach a radius value, we managed to obtain
a electron-to-mass ratio closer to the acceptable value. Hence, this method is more favorable
compared to the ratio of V over r2

amasalme@sfu.ca
djng@sfu.ca
2014 CODATA recommended value for an electron http://www.giss.nasa.gov/latex/.