The electron follows a semicircle under the transverse Lorentz force. Parallel, oppositely directed incoming and outgoing paths are separated by a diameter, so the orbit radius is . Acceleration from rest through the electric potential difference gives kinetic energy , where is the elementary electric charge. Equating the Lorentz force magnitude to the required centripetal force givesThe magnetic field must be perpendicular to the plane of the turn, with its sign chosen for the electron's negative electric charge. In the illustration the electron enters rightwards at the upper endpoint, so a magnetic field into the page bends it downwards.
The nonrelativistic estimate has . If the small special relativity correction is retained, use with and . This gives , about larger. The leading answer is adequate at the precision implicit in the classical treatment.
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