Title: III
1III2 Magnetic Fields Due to Currents
2Main Topics
- Forces on Moving Electric Charges
- Biot-Savart Law
- Amperes Law.
- Calculation of Some Magnetic Fields.
3Forces on Moving Electric Charges I
- Since currents are in reality moving charges it
can be expected that all what is valid for
interaction of magnetic fields with currents will
be valid also for moving charges. - The force of a magnetic field acting on
a charge q moving by a velocity is given by
the Lorentz formula -
4Forces on Moving Electric Charges II
- Lorentz force is in fact part of a more general
formula which includes both electric and magnetic
forces -
- This relation can be taken as a definition of
electric and magnetic forces and can serve as a
starting point to study them.
5Forces on Moving Electric Charges III
- Lorentz force is a central issue in whole
electromagnetism. We shall return to it by
showing several examples. Moreover we shall find
out that it can be used as a basis of explanation
of almost all magnetic and electromagnetic
effects. - But at this point we need to know how are
magnetic fields created quantitatively.
6Biot-Savart Law I
- There are many analogies between electrostatic
and magnetic fields and of course a question
arises whether some analog of the Coulombs law
exists, which would describe how two short pieces
of wires with current would affect themselves. It
exists but it is too complicated to use. For this
reason the generation and influence of magnetic
fields are separated.
7Biot-Savart Law II
- All what is necessary to find the mutual forces
of two macroscopic wires of various sizes and
shapes with currents is to employ the principle
of superposition, which is valid in magnetic
fields as well and integrate. - It is a good exercise to try to make a few
calculations then try do something better!
8Magnetic Field Due to a Straight Wire I
- Lets have an infinite wire which we coincide
with the x-axis. The current I flows in the x
direction. We are interested in magnetic
induction in the point P 0, a. - The main idea is to use the principle of
superposition. Cut the wire into pieces of the
same length dx and add contribution of each of
them.
9Magnetic Field Due to a Straight Wire II
- For a contribution from a single piece we use
formula derived from the Biot-Savart law - Since both vectors which are multiplied lie in
the x, y plane only the z component of
will be non-zero which leads to a great
simplification. We see where the right hand rule
comes from!
10Magnetic Field Due to a Straight Wire III
- So a piece of the length dx with the coordinate x
contributes - Here r is the distance of dx and P and ? is the
angle between the line joining dx and P and the
x-axis. We have to express all these quantities
as a function of one variable e.g. the ?.
11Magnetic Field Due to a Straight Wire IV
- For r we get
- and for x and dx (- is important to get negative
x at angles ? lt ? /2 !)
12Magnetic Field Due to a Straight Wire V
- So finally we get
-
- The conclusions we can derive from the symmetry
we postpone for later!
13Ampères Law
- As in electrostatics also in magnetism a law
exists which can considerably simplify
calculations in cases of a special symmetry and
can be used to clarify physical ideas in many
important situations. - It is the Ampères law which relates the line
integral of over a closed path with currents
which are surrounded by the path.
14Magnetic Field Due to a Straight Wire VI
- As it is the case with using the Gauss law, we
have to find a path which is tangential to
everywhere
and on which the magnitude of B is constant. So
it must be a special field line. Then we can move
B out of the integral, which then simply gives
the length of the particular integration path.
15Magnetic Field Due to a Straight Wire VII
- Let us have a long straight wire with current I.
- We expect B to depend on r and have axial
symmetry where the wire is naturally the axis. - The field lines, as we already know are circles
and therefore our integration path will be a
circle with a radius r equal to the distance
where we want to find the field. Then -
16Magnetic Field Due to a Straight Wire VIII
- The vectors of the magnetic induction are
tangents to circles centered on the wire, which
thereby are the field lines, and the magnitude of
B decreases with the first power of the distance.
- It is similar as in the case of the electrostatic
field of an straight, infinite and uniformly
charged wire but there electric field lines were
radial while here magnetic are circular, thereby
perpendicular in every point.
17Magnetic Field in a Center of a Square Loop of
Current I
- Apparently by employing the Amperes law we have
obtained the same information in a considerable
easier way. But, unfortunately, this works only
in special cases. - Lets calculate magnetic induction in the center
of a square loop a x a of current I. We see that
it is a superposition of contributions of all 4
sides of the square but to get these we have to
use the formula for infinite wire with
appropriate limits.
18Magnetic Field in a Center of a Square Loop of
Current II
- The contribution of one side is
- etc.
19Force Between Two Straight Wires I
- Let us have two straight parallel wires in which
currents I1 and I2 flow in the same direction
separated by a distance d. - First, we can find the directions and then simply
deal only with the magnitudes. It is convenient
to calculate a force per unit length. -
20Force Between Two Straight Wires II
- This is used for the definition of 1 ampere
- 1 ampere is a constant current which, if
maintained in two straight parallel conductors of
infinite length, of negligible cross section, and
placed 1 meter apart in vacuum, would produce
between these conductors a force equal to 2 10-7
N per meter of length.
21Homework
22Things to read
- This Lecture Covers
- Chapter 28 1, 2, 3, 4, 6
- Advance reading
- Chapter 27 5 28 4, 5
23Magnetic interaction of two currents I
Let us have two currents I1 and I2 flowing in two
short straight pieces of wire and
Then the force acting on the second piece
due to the existence of the first piece is
This very general formula covers almost all the
magnetism physics but would be hard to use in
practice.
24Magnetic interaction of two currents II
That is the reason why it is divided into the
formula using the field (we already know)
and the formula to calculate the field, which
particularly is the Biot-Savart law
25Magnetic interaction of two currents III
If we realize that
is a unit vector pointing in the direction from
the first current to the second one , we
se that magnetic forces decrease also with the
second power of the distance.
26Magnetic interaction of two currents IV
The scaling constant ?0 4? 10-7 Tm/A is
called the permeability of vacuum or of free
space. Some authors dont use it since it is not
an independent parameter of the Nature. It is
related to the permitivity of vacuum ?0 and the
speed of light c by
27Ampères Law
Let us have none, one, two ore more wires with
currents I1, I2 then
- All the current must be added but their
polarities must be taken into account !