Experimental discrimination of electrostatic and magnetic forces in particle–particle aggregation

Abstract The aggregates formed in low gravity are generally fractals. The fractal dimensions and the site growth probability measures of the resulting fractal structures strongly depend on the properties of the forces that cause the aggregation. Using some approximations, we solved the equation of motion and obtained the relation giving the particles separation as a function of time. The electric force between two charged particles and the magnetic force between two particles with a magnetic moment were considered. The two relations are different and it is shown that one can identify and separate these two interactions by analysing the recording of the aggregation. The apparatus used to record the aggregation has a resolution in the order of one micrometer per pixel and has the possibility of recording simultaneously two views at right angles. From a three dimensional recording of an aggregation, it will be possible to obtain the product of the two charges or magnetic moments causing the aggregation.