1. A pedal or other device to make something go faster, to speed up, or to quicken the pace: The car suddenly lunged into a tree when Jeremy stepped too hard on the accelerator.
2. A machine used to increase the velocity, and hence the kinetic energy, of subatomic particles or nuclei; usually, in preparation for collision with a target.

1. A device which accelerates electrons to high energies.
2. A machine that increases the energy levels of electrons in order to produce a beam of highly charged particles.

A linear accelerator or a device that propels charged particles in straight paths by using alternating high-frequency voltages used to accelerate electrons in a straight line, usually by means of radio-frequency fields which are produced in a loaded waveguide and travel with the electrons.

A proposed particle accelerator in which protons to be accelerated are trapped by the space charge of a ring of relativisitic electrons which is then accelerated.

A device which uses a linear accelerator to generate neutrons that produce fissile fuel for nuclear reactors.

1. An instrument which uses an electrostatic field in a vacuum to greatly increase the velocity of charged particles.
2. An electrical device that uses an electrostatic field to accelerate charged particles to high velocities in a vacuum.
3. Any machine that produces electric charges by friction or, more commonly, electrostatic induction.
4. A high-voltage generator in which electric charges are generated by friction or induction, then transferred mechanically to an insulated electrode to build up a voltage which may be as high as nine mega volts.
5. An apparatus for producing up to several million volts of electrostatic energy by successive accumulation of small static charges on an insulated high-voltage metal collector.

1. A machine in which an electric field produced by external oscillators or amplifiers propels electrons in a straight to produce a beam of highly charged particles.
2. A linear accelerator in which ions are accelerated by an electric field in a standing-wave pattern that is set up in a resonant cavity by external oscillators or amplifiers.

A particle accelerator which accelerates protons to high energies, as opposed to one which accelerates heavier ions or electrons.

A particle nuclear accelerator that derives its name from the two stages of acceleration that particles undergo.

In one version, heavy negatively charged ions are accelerated through one potential difference before being stripped of more electrons and accelerated again in a system using two or more Van de Graaff generators.

Developed by U.S. physicist Robert J. Van de Graaff, 1901-1967; a Van de Graaff generator is an electrostatic generator in which high voltages are produced by a moving belt of insulating material that collects electric charges by induction and discharges them inside a large spherical electrode; used for accelerating electrons, protons, and other nuclear particles.