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Direction of lorentz force, is one of these websites wrong?

Physics Asked by user273872 on May 10, 2021

or are they talking about different things and I’m to stupid to see that?

first website: https://www.britannica.com/science/Lorentz-force
quote: "the magnetic force on both types of charge carriers is in the same direction."

second website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorentz_force
quote: "Positive and negative charge trajectories curve in opposite directions."

Seems like those contradict each other but it could be because one is talking about charges in a wire, and one of those charges is like electron holes which are only theoretical? idk

Also in a tokamak I was wondering if the positive nucleus and the striped of negative electrons are flying around in opposite directions, and if they are, and that makes them collide a bunch, would there be fusion between them? Is fusion only a nucleus on nucleus thing?

One Answer

As is always the case, you must evaluate the quote in context. In the Encyclopedia Britannica article, the sentence before your quote is

A current flowing from right to left in a conductor can be the result of positive charge carriers moving from right to left or negative charges moving from left to right, or some combination of each.

Therefore, what they're saying is that the magnetic force on a positive charge moving toward the left is the same as the magnetic force on a negative charge moving toward the right, because both the velocity $mathbf v$ and the sign of the charge $q$ are reversed - leaving $mathbf F_B = qmathbf v times mathbf B$ unchanged.

Correct answer by J. Murray on May 10, 2021

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