Larmor radius
From FusionWiki
The Larmor radius is the radius of gyration of a charged particle moving in a magnetic field. Balancing the Lorentz Force
- $ \vec F = q \vec v \times \vec B $
with the centripetal force, whose magnitude is
- $ F = \frac{m v^2}{r} $
one immediately obtains
- $ r_L = \frac{m}{|q|} \frac{v_\perp}{B} $
where only the perpendicular component of the velocity (with respect to the magnetic field) enters.