MAGNETIC FIELD

 A magnetic field is a region around a magnet whereby a magnetic substance, within

the field, is magnetised followed by attraction.
 A magnetic field is a vector quantity
 Symbolized by B with a bar on top
 Magnetic field lines can be used to show how the field lines, as traced out by a
compass, would look. For example

 These lines of force are imaginary that can accurately be drawn by means of a plotting
compass.
 The compass needle is a magnet, its head being the a North pole and its tail, a South
pole
 The SI unit of magnetic field is Tesla (T).
Magnetic field around a current carrying wire

* If an electric current is passed through a wire, a weak magnetic field is produced.

 The field has these features:

 the magnetic field lines are circles or concentric circles around it.
 the field is strongest close to the wire
 increasing the current increases the strength of the field

NB: When the current is upward, the wire deflects to the left or jump to the left-ie
current move into the page or upward
:When the current is downwards, the wire deflects to the right or jump to the
right.

In a circuit the current is a flow of electrons: tiny particles which come from atoms.

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The current arrows shown on circuit diagrams run from positive to negative-This is the
conventional current direction.

 A rule for field direction

*The direction of the magnetic field produced by a current is given by right - hand grip rule
shown above right.

*Imagine gripping the wire with your right hand so that your thumb points in the
conventional current direction. Your fingers then point in the same direction as the field lines.

NOTE

• The magnetic force is exerted on each moving charge in the wire.

• The total force is the sum of all the magnetic forces on all the individual charges
producing the current.

• F = B I ℓ sin θ

• θ is the angle between B and the direction of I

• The direction is found by the right hand rule, placing your fingers in the direction of I
instead of v

• Where F is the magnetic force

B is magnetic field

I is the current and l is the length of wire

Magnetic force depends on:

 Magnetic field
 Amount of current
 Length of wire

Qn: a. Give two ways in which the strength of the field could be increased.

Ans: The strength of the magnetic field is increased by:

 increasing the current

 increasing the number of turns in the coil.

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 b. How could the direction of the field be reversed?

Hint: use right hand grip rule. This time the thumb point downwards and other fingers then
point in the same direction as the field lines. Reversing the current reverses the direction of
the magnetic field.

Magnetic fields from coils

 A current produces a stronger magnetic field if the wire it flows through is wound into
a coil or solenoid.
 The diagrams below show the magnetic field patterns produced by two current-
carrying coils.
 One is just a single turn of wire. The other is a long coil with many turns. A long coil
is called a solenoid

The magnetic field produced by a current-carrying coil has these features:

1. the field is similar to that from a bar magnet, and there are magnetic poles at the ends
of the coil
2. increasing the current increases the strength of the field
3. Increasing the number of turns on the coil increases the strength of the field.

A rule for poles

*To work out which way round the poles are, you can use another right-hand grip rule as
shown below.

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 Imagine gripping the coil with your right hand so that the fingers point in the
conventional current direction. Your thumb then points towards the N pole of the coil

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