A magnetic field set up using Helmholtz coils (described in Exercise 4.16) is uniform in a small region and has a magnitude of 0.75 T. In the same region, a uniform electrostatic field is maintained in a direction normal to the common axis of the coils. A narrow beam of (single species) charged particles all accelerated through 15 kV enters this region in a direction perpendicular to both the axis of the coils and the electrostatic field. If the beam remains undeflected when the electrostatic field is `9.0 xx 10^(5 )V m^(-1)` , make a simple guess as to what the beam contains. Why is the answer not unique?

Explanation

Deuterium ions or deuterons, the answer is not unique because only the ratio of charge to mass is determined. Other possible answers are `He^(++) , Li^(+++) `, etc