PHY 114 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Net Force
Document Summary
The force on a current carrying wire in an external magnetic field is: L is a vector that points in the same direction of the current flow (same direction as i) It"s magnitude is the length of the wire. The equation from lecture 9 is for a single particle, while this one is for an entire current. It takes into account every particle flowing through a current. Here"s a diagram just to see the variables better: To find direction of force, you can use right-hand method: Put palm in direction of magnetic field, in the case of the diagram above it would be towards your computer screen. Then make sure your fingers point in the direction of the current. Lastly, curl your fingers towards your palm, and wherever your thumb points is the direction of the force, which should be left in this diagram. Either way, fingers still curl from l to b.