General Physics III

Part A: Magnetism

MAGNETIC
FIELDS

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 Magnetic Fields

• The movement of electric charge produces a magnetic (B) field

• A single magnetic point charge (called a magnetic monopole) has
never been discovered in nature
• Magnetism always exists as a dipole never as a point “charge”
• Magnetic materials have both north and south poles
 Magnetic Fields
• Magnetic materials have both north and south poles
• Magnetic field lines point from North (N) to South (S)

N S

• The units of magnetic field are called Tesla (T)

1 Tesla (T) = 1 N.s/C.m
The unit of magnetic fields

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 The Earth as a Magnet
• The Earth has a magnetic field and acts like a big magnet
• We define the magnetic “north” direction as the direction the
North end of a compass points
– The geographic “North Pole” is really
the South pole of the magnetic field
– The geographic “South Pole” is really
the North pole of the magnetic field
• Although its value varies depending
on location, the magnitude of the
Earth’s magnetic field is ~ 6x10-5 T
 Magnetic Fields (moving charges)

• Moving charges produce magnetic fields

• The magnitude of the produced magnetic field depends:

– Magnitude of charge (q)
– Speed of the charge (v)
– Distance from charge (r)
 Magnetic Fields (moving charges)

• Direction of magnetic field is determined by the “right hand rule”

– Point thumb in direction of v (or –v for negative charge)
– Curl fingers around the thumb
– The direction of the fingers is the direction of magnetic field

Examples: What is the direction of the B field?

+ -
v v
 Magnetic Force
• Magnetic fields exert force on moving
charges (the magnetic force)

• The direction of the magnetic force is

– Perpendicular to the direction of movement
– Perpendicular to the direction of magnetic field

• The magnetic force exerted on a charge

depends on:
– The magnitude of the moving charge (q)
– The speed of the moving charge (v)
– The magnitude of the magnetic field (B)
– The angle (q) between v and B

FB = qv  B or FB = qvB  sinq
 Magnetic Force
• Right-hand rule
FB = qv  B

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 Magnetic Force
• Applying Right Hand Rule (RHR)

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 Crossed Fields: Discovery of the Electron
• Crossed fields: An electric field E and a magnetic field B can produce a force
on a charged particle, when they are perpendicular to each other.
• They are called crossed fields.
• A modern version of Thomson’s apparatus for measuring the ratio of mass to
charge for the electron (considered to be the “discovery of the electron”)

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 Crossed Fields: Discovery of the Electron
• In this arrangement, electrons from the hot filament are forced up by
electric field E and down by magnetic field B, so the forces are in
opposition
• Thomson carried out the following steps:
1. Set E = 0 and B = 0, no deflection of the electron beam.
2. Turn on E and measure the beam deflection y (where L: length of plates)
|q|EL2
y=
2mv 2
3. Maintaining E, turn on B and adjust its value until the beam returns to the
undeflected position, FE = FB
E
|q|E = |q|vBsin90 = |q|vB 
or v=
B
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 Crossed Fields: Discovery of the Electron
• The crossed fields allow us to measure the speed of the charged particles
passing through them. Then yielding the arrangement:
m B2L2
=
|q| 2yE

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 Crossed Fields: The Hall Effect
• The effect was discovered by Edwin H. Hall in 1879 when
he was a graduate student at the Johns Hopkins University
• The Hall effect mentions that conduction electrons in a wire
are deflected by a magnetic field
(a) Electrons in a copper strip are deflected by B, moving
to the right edge of the strip
(b) The separation of positive and negative charges
produces E as shown, resulting in FE to the left
(c) An equilibrium is established as FB = FE
v=Ed
– Using a voltmeter, we can measure v and determine
which edge is at higher potential to check the electron
deflection.
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 Crossed Fields: The Hall Effect
• The Hall effect also allows us to find out whether the charge
carriers in a conductor are positive or negative:

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 Crossed Fields: The Hall Effect
• For an equilibrium:
eE=evdB
• Drift speed:
J i
vd= =
ne neA
• We derive the number density of charge carriers
Bi
n=
Vle
where l = A/d is the thickness of the strip

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Crossed Fields: The Hall Effect

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 A Circulating Charged Particle
• We consider a beam of electrons moving in a region of uniform
magnetic field B as shown. The magnetic force acts on an electron,
causing the electrons moving along a circular path:
v2
FB=qvB=m
r
• The radius of the circular path:
mv
r=
qB
• The period:
2 r 2  m
T= =
v qB
• The angular frequency:
qB
=2 f =
m
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 Helical Paths
• In a general case, if the velocity of the charge has a component parallel
to the magnetic field, the charge will move in a helical path about the B
field direction:

v =vcos v ⊥ =vsin

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 Magnetic Force on a Current-Carrying Wire

• Current carrying wires have moving charge

• As placed in a magnetic field, the field exerts a force on these moving charges
• The magnetic force vector exerted on a current carrying wire of length, L, is:
FB = iL  B
• The magnitude of the magnetic force vector:
FB = iLB  sinq
Note: If the field is not uniform or
• Example: the wire is not straight, we can use
FB B the following equation for small
i segments:

dFB= idLxB
L
 Torque Exerted on a Current Loops
• Although the net magnetic force exerted on a current carrying
loop in a magnetic field is zero, the field does exert torque on
the loop
• Consider a square loop (length of sides = L and current = i) in
a constant magnetic field:
• On 2 sides of the loop, FB =0
• For each of the other sides, FB= iLB is pointing opposite
directions
• Each of these forces exerts a torque on the loop:
L  FB
 FB1 = FB2 =  FB=   iLB  sin
2
B
• The net torque on the loop is: L
 Net= F + F =iL2B  sin= iAB  sin
B1 B2
i FB
• When there are N loops:  Net=(NiA ) B  sin
 Magnetic Moment
• The quantity NiA is referred to as the magnetic moment vector (m) for
the loop
• The direction of is the normal vector to the face of the loop:

m =NiAiˆN
• The torque on the loop can then be expressed (for any N, A, and i) as:

 Net =(NiA ) B  sin

 Net =NiAiˆN  B= m  B
m
• The magnetic potential energy is given by: i B
U (q )=-m  B
 Magnetic Force in DC Motors
• A simple DC motor is comprised of a rotating wire coil (called
an armature) connected to a battery (or DC power source)
• The armature is placed within a between the opposite poles
of 2 magnets
• As current passes along the coil, the magnetic field exerts
force on the wires generating torque that results in the
rotation of the armature
• As it rotates, the magnitude
of torque (force) acting on
the armature depends on its
orientation in the magnetic
field
 Homework
• 13, 21, 25, 29, 31, 40, 45, 49, 51, 57, 62 (pages
757-761)

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