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Basic Plasma Physics 43 μ = 1 mv 2 . (3.3-22) 2B As the particle moves along the magnetic field lines into a stronger magnitude field, the parallel energy of the particle is converted into rotational energy and its Larmor radius increases. However, its magnetic moment remains invariant because the magnetic field does no work and the total kinetic energy of the particle is conserved. For a sufficiently large increase in the field, a situation can arise where the parallel velocity of the particle goes to zero and the Lorentz force reflects the particle from a “magnetic mirror.” By conservation of energy, particles will be reflected from the magnetic mirror if their parallel velocity is less than v||