z

y L

I I
y
x

(a) (b)

Figure 1: (a) An infinite sheet of current in the (x, y) plane; (b) a view looking down the x-axis, such that
the current is pointing towards us.

Electric and Magnetic Fields - Exercises 7

Friday 20th March 2020

Chris White (christopher.white@qmul.ac.uk)

Questions marked with (†) are meant to be more challenging. Please let me know of any typing errors and
/ or other mistakes.

1. Starting with Ampere’s law, derive the magnetic field a perpendicular distance R from an infinite
straight wire.
2. A circular loop of wire of radius 2cm and carrying current 1A is placed such that its axis is at 45◦ to
a uniform magnetic field of 1T. What is the magnitude of the torque experienced by the loop?
3. (†) In electrostatics, there is a single-valued potential function V , such that
Z
∆V = − E · dl
C

is the potential difference experienced by a charged particle that traverses the curve C. Why does
Ampere’s law imply that there is no such function for magnetism?
4. Consider an infinite sheet in the (x, y) plane, carrying a uniform current in the x direction, as shown
in figure 1. What does the magnetic field look like away from the sheet? By using Ampere’s law with
the contour shown in figure 1(b) or otherwise, show that the magnitude of the magnetic field at any
point off the sheet is
µ0 I
B= ,
2
where I is the current in the x direction per unit length in the y direction.