![](./flasher_soln.gif) |
Practice the right hand rule for vector cross-products; write on your
fingers the appropriate vectors for Force, Velocity, B-field. If you
don't wash your hands before Friday, you can use your fingers as a
reference for the quiz.
An electron is moving in the earth's magnetic field with velocity,
v = 1.4 m/s.
The particle's components of velocity are 1 m/s parallel to the field and
1 m/s perpendicular to the field, which has a magnitude of 10-4T.
Describe quantitatively the motion of the particle.
The electron will move with a helical pattern - a combination of linear motion
along the field line with v = 1m/s, and circular motion with
R = mv
/Bq = 5.6 x 10-8m.
- We sometimes say that particles, such as solar wind particles "trapped"
in the earth's Van Allen Belts, are constrained to move along magnetic field
lines. Use the above example to discuss the meaning of this statement.
The particle can move freely along the field line, but cannot move in the
transverse direction because the magnetic force requires it to "orbit" in a
circle around the field line.
- The sun has a magnetic field which is about equal in magnitude to that of
the earth. In the case of the sun, field lines thread through the solar
plasma, which rotates "differentially - that is the ionized gas at the equator
rotates much faster than that at the poles. What do you think this does to
the magnetic field?
In this case, the plasma (ionized gas) dominates over the magnetic field and
effectively drags the magnetic field along with it. The result is that the
equatorial field gets wrapped around the sun causing field lines to stretch
and, eventually, to break and reconnect. This magnetic energy is the source
of energy for solar flares,etc.
The figure below shows three configurations of a set of parallel wires.
Wire 3 is always equidistant from Wires 1 and 2. The magnitudes of the
currents in the wires is the same with "
"
indicating current directed into the page and
"
" indicating current out of the page.
Find the direction of the net force on Wire 3 in each case. In figure (c)
the distance between nearby wires is 10cm and the current is 1A in each wire.
Calculate the force on Wire 3.
![](./wire_ans.gif)
Problem 4
In (c), F = F1 + F2
= 2 (µ0I/2
r) = 4 x 10-6 N