Electron gun

Electron released when a metal piece is heated can be accelerated in vacuum producing a beam .The accelerating plates and hot metal surface can be referred to as electron gun.\

HOW IT WORKS.
Metal plate contains free electrons which can move about and conduct heat while there are those than are bound to ions in lattice. When metal plate is heated the electrons gain kinetic energy. If they gain enough K.E , they will be able to escape from the surface of the metal plate. If this plate was in vaccum then the electrons that escaped would be free to move. These electrons can be pulled away from the hot surface of the plate by putting a positive electrode (anode) nearby. The anode is created by connecting an electrode to the positive terminal of a power supply, and the hot plate is connected to its negative terminal. The hot plate is then the cathode.

So the electrons moves towards the anode and crash into it. But since there is a hole in the anode some electrons pass through it . these electrons continue to move in the vacuum as they have nothing to collide into until the fluorescent screen, where they make a bright spot.

USES
o o o o o o o o cathode ray tubes, which were widely used in computer and television monitor used to ionize particles by adding or removing electrons from an atom mass spectrometry used for welding metal coating 3D metal printers, metal powder production vacuum furnaces.

REFERENCE

http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/practical-physics/electron-guns

Suha Abdulla 12-G