Question

A straight wire segment of length 0.92 m carries a current of 20.4 A and is immersed in a uniform external magnetic field of magnitude 0.19 T.

(a) What is the magnitude of the maximum possible magnetic force on the wire segment?

Answer 1

The magnitude of the maximum possible force is 3.57 newtons.

Step-by-step explanation:

The magnetic force on a wire is:

`\overrightarrow{F}=I(\overrightarrow{L}*\overrightarrow{B})`

with I the current, L the length of the wire and B the magnitude magnetic field. So, the magnitude of the force is:

`F=ILB\sin\theta` (1)

with
`\theta` the angle between the wire and the magnetic field, the maximum possible value is when the wire and magnetic field are perpendicular to each other
`\theta= 90Celsius\,degree` then
`\sin(90)=1` so by (1):

`F_(max)=ILB=(20.4A)(0.92m)(0.19T)`

`F_(max)=3.57N`