03-Dec-18

PH-125 Applied Physics

Lecture – 15
Magnetic Force
and Field

Magnetic Force
 Can be because of permanent magnets
 Or moving electric charges
 Along a wire,

 forming currents,

 moving through empty space

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“Because of
changing
temperatures and
fluid flows, the
strength of the
magnetic field
varies, and the
positions of the
north and south
magnetic poles
shift.”

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Introduction
 We have studied that an electrostatic field is produced
by static or stationary charges
 If the charges are moving with constant velocity, a
static magnetic (or magnetostatic) field is produced
A magnetostatic field is produced by a constant current
flow (or direct current)
 This current flow may be due to magnetization currents
as in permanent magnets, electron-beam currents as in
vacuum tubes, or conduction currents as in current-
carrying wires

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Introduction
 There are two major laws governing magneto static
fields:
(1) Biot-Savart's law
(2) Ampere's circuit law

 Like Coulomb's law, Biot-Savart's law is the general

law of magnetostatics
 Like Gauss's law is a special case of Coulomb's law,
Ampere's law is a special case of Biot-Savart's law

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The Magnetic Force

 Magnetic force exerted on one moving point charge q

by a steady current I flowing in a long, straight wire
 Case 1: v parallel to the current

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The Magnetic Force

 Magnetic force exerted on one moving point charge q

by a steady current I flowing in a long, straight wire
 Case 2: v in the radial direction

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The Magnetic Force

 Magnetic force exerted on one moving point charge q
by a steady current I flowing in a long, straight wire
 Case 3: v in the tangential direction

If the direction of the velocity v is not as

described in one of the three basic cases 1,
2, or 3 above, then the velocity can be split
into three components along the directions
described in these three basic cases, and
the magnetic force can be obtained by
calculating the contribution for each direction
separately and then taking the vector sum of
the separate magnetic forces
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The Magnetic Field

 Magnetic force is communicated from one moving charge
q’ to another moving charge q through a magnetic field

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The Magnetic Field

Right-hand rule for the
magnetic field

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The Magnetic Field

If the point charge moves at some
general angle α with respect to
the magnetic field
1. only the component of its
velocity perpendicular to the
magnetic field generates a
magnetic force
2. whereas the component
parallel to the magnetic field
does not
The SI unit of magnetic field is
tesla (T)

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Lorentz force

 If both electric and magnetic fields exert forces on a

charge q, the net force on the charge is the vector sum
of the individual forces
 The total force due to both an electric field E and a
magnetic field B is called the Lorentz force

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Magnetic Field Lines

 The tangent to the field lines indicates
the direction of the field, and the
density of field lines indicates the
relative strength of the field

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Gauss’ Law for the magnetic

field
 Magnetic field lines form closed loops
 Magnetic field lines do not begin or end anywhere in
the way that electric field lines begin and end on
positive and negative charges
 Isolated magnetic poles “magnetic charge”, or
magnetic monopoles, do not exist

B B A
 By applying divergence theorem
B
B. 𝑑A = ∇.B𝑑v = 0 Second of four
Maxwell’s equations
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