Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 1 37A d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The spatial part of the Lorentz force isPart (c), together with , givesWriting and expanding the momentum derivative,Substitution of gives the coordinate acceleration of a relativistic charged particle:
In the nonrelativistic limit , one has and the final term is smaller by order . Hencewhich is precisely Newton's second law with the ordinary Lorentz force.