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Article: Moby electron: trapping a whale of a charge. (kiloelectron developed to aid in the determination of an electron's magnetic moment)(Science News of the Week)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- September 30, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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When a single electron hasn't the electric charge or mass to do the job, researchers may need to bring in reinforcements.
To measure a certain subtle effect that involves a moving electron, physicists have trapped and packed together 1,000 electrons to create a tiny, cold, dense ball of charge. This spherical droplet acts somewhat like a single particle with 1,000 times the charge and mass of an electron.
"We call it a kiloelectron," says Hans G. Dehmelt of the University of Washington in Seattle. By using such an electron ball, the researchers can magnify the effect they want to measure, making it readily detectable.
Dehmelt and Washington colleagues ...