Talk:Penning trap

June 2006
Isn't the one who discovered/invented this F. M. Penning? Or more exactly: I'm quite sure he is, it's the grandfather of a good friend of mine. I haven't got enough knowledge to say something about it though, perhaps someone else can. http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1989/illpres/precision.html

I think the diagram which is shown is rather ambiguous. The caption explains what everything is, but it doesn't give me a very good idea of the spatial arrangement. --72.140.146.246 13:42, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Penning invented the Penning trap
The last sentence of the first paragraph is incorrect. Hans G. Dehmelt in his own Nobel Lecture (http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1989/dehmelt-lecture.pdf) refers to his apparatus as a 'Penning Trap'. Dehmelt's Nobel was awarded "for the development of the ion trap technique" (http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1989/index.html).

Until what?
"To trap them energy has to be pumped into the magnetron motion, until ..." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 63.100.100.5 (talk • contribs).


 * I was just thinking the same thing... —Keenan Pepper 18:11, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I've removed the offending sentence and tried to replace it with something more helfpul. Whosasking 15:07, 13 June 2006 (UTC) 15:07, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

Fusion
If memory serves, Penning traps have been proposed as the basis for a type of fusion reactor. I can't remember the source, unfortunately, perhaps someone else can? -- Whitepaw 17:07, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Use in literature: Angels & Demons, Dan Brown
Should there be a section about how Penning traps can be used as a weapon? This is the plot in Dan Brown's novel. 80.13.64.4 (talk) 08:39, 30 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Generally this goes under an "in popular culture" section. LokiClock (talk) 09:29, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

Definition of homogeneity
"Penning traps are devices for the storage of charged particles using a homogeneous static magnetic field and a spatially inhomogeneous static electric field."

Could homogeneity be linked to a specific article? It's a general word, so a specific meaning should be given for the context. LokiClock (talk) 09:39, 14 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Well homogenous can be confusing. In fact, text books like Atomic Physics by Christopher J. Foot (on page 273-274), don't use the word homogenous at all but the word "cylindrical symmetry" or "axial static magnetic field".  In turn the electric field is more "radial electric field" instead of inhomogeneous.  The combination creates a completely imbalanced torque that causes the particles to move around like a slinky going in a circle or cyliniod. From an artistic perspective, their are different interpretations but generally field when combined look like a ends of a toostie roll wrapper.  Examples: 1) http://1t2src2grpd01c037d42usfb.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2009/05/trap.jpg the top picture is either an Ioffe or Penning trap in this Ioffe-Penning Trap (I believe maybe just the magnetic coils).  The middle picture is spinning of the electric lines of that come from a Penning trap itself. This picture reminds me of Twizzlers.  2) http://www.triumf.ca/headlines/current-events/nobel-laureate-visits-triumf Is a better flat picture of the Penning Trap by itself (the curved part) and the electric/magnetic lines created from the electrodes. 3) https://www.integratedsoft.com/Frontend/IesImages/product_image/MainLorentz.gif A more realistic simulation of what the electric and magnetic fields lines look like in 4D because they actually spin. It shows the characteristic Toostie-Roll-Wrapper shape.  The red squiggles are the trajectories of particles. 162.242.9.13 (talk) 23:51, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

Geonium atom merge
The Geonium atom article duplicates significant material here, and is just a conceptual model for a particle in a penning trap. I suggest we make Geonium atom a subsection of the Penning Trap article. Forbes72 (talk) 17:11, 2 February 2016 (UTC)
 * WP:BOLD merged. --Kkmurray (talk) 02:30, 27 March 2017 (UTC)