# Studying the Van Allen Radiation Belts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 20, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studying-the-van-allen-radiation-belts/189774 "2003-07-20T18:03:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studying-the-van-allen-radiation-belts/189774/1 "2003-07-20T18:03:37Z")
Sometimes on TV documentaries when talking about the discovery of Van Allen belts, they show this 1950s footage of a particular experiment in which a small globe is set in place at some sort of paritcle stream is shot at it. This then produces a Van Allen belt effect around the globe. Can anyone illudicate on what this experiment may be? I’m assuming the globe has a strong bar magnet inside and the whole thing is in an evacuated chamber; electrons are then shot at the globe. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studying-the-van-allen-radiation-belts/189774/2 "2003-07-20T23:08:52Z")
As a guess, it may be an example of a [terrella](http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/sphaera/index.htm?issue7/articl6). (There’s a better copy of the photograph on [this page](http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/whaur1.html).) ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studying-the-van-allen-radiation-belts/189774/3 "2003-07-21T01:20:15Z")
Yep, that looks just like it.