Physics 121: Electricity &

Magnetism – Lecture 9
Magnetic Fields
Dale E. Gary
Wenda Cao
NJIT Physics Department
 Electric Field & Magnetic Field
 Electric forces acting at a distance  Magnetic forces acting at a
through electric field. distance through Magnetic field.
 Vector field, E.  Vector field, B
 Source: electric charge.  Source: moving electric charge
 Positive charge (+) and negative (current or magnetic substance,
charge (-). such as permanent magnet).
 Opposite charges attract, like  North pole (N) and south pole (S)
charges repel.  Opposite poles attract, like poles
 Electric field lines visualizing the repel.
direction and magnitude of E.  Magnetic field lines visualizing the
direction and magnitude of B.

October 31, 2007

 
Definition of B
 Test charge and electric field  Test monopole and

magnetic field ?

 F  FB
E E B
q p
 Magnetic poles are always found in
N S N S NS pairs. A single magnetic pole has
never been isolated.
 Define B at some point in space in terms of the magnetic
force FB that the field exerts on a charged particle
moving with a velocity v :
 The magnitude FB is proportional to the charge q and to the
speed v of the particle.
 FB = 0 when the charged particle moves parallel to the
magnetic field vector.
 When velocity vector makes any angle θ≠0 with the
magnetic field, FB is perpendicular to both B and v.
 FB on a positive charge is opposite on a negative charge.
 The magnitude FB is proportional to sinθ.

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 Magnetic Fields
 Magnetic force   
FB  q v  B
 Right-hand rule determine the direction of magnetic
force. So the magnetic force is always perpendicular to v
and B.
 The magnitude of the magnetic force is
F  q vB sin 
B

    
FE  q E FB  q v  B
 The electric force is along the direction of the electric field, the
magnetic force is perpendicular to the magnetic field.
 The electric force acts on a charged particle regardless of whether
the particle is moving, the magnetic force acts on a charged
particle only when the particle is in motion.
 The electric force does work in displacing a charged particle, the
magnetic force does no work when a particle is displaced.

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 Magnitude of Magnetic Force
1. A particle in a magnetic field is found to has
zero magnetic force on it. Which situation is
impossible to happen?
FB  q vB sin 
A. The particle is neutral.
B. The particle is stationary.
C. The motion of the particle is along magnetic field.
D. The motion of the particle is opposite to magnetic field.
E. All of them are possible.

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 Direction of Magnetic Force
2. The figures shows five situations in which a charged particle with
velocity v travels through a uniform magnetic field B. In which
situation, is the direction of the magnetic force along +x axis ?
A B C y
y y
B
v v
B
B x v x x
z z z

D y E y
B v
B

v x x
z z

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 Magnetic Fields
 Magnetic field: FB At surface of neutron star 108 T
B
qv Near big electromagnet 1.5 T
 SI unit of magnetic field: tesla (T) Inside sunspot 10-1 T
 1T = 1 N/[Cm/s] = 1 N/[Am] = 10 4 gauss Near small bar magnet 10-2 T
 Magnetic field lines with similar rules: At Earth’s surface 10-4 T
 The direction of the tangent to a magnetic In interstellar space 10-10 T
field line at any point gives the direction of
B at that point;
 The spacing of the lines represents the
magnitude of B – the magnetic field is
stronger where the lines are closer
together, and conversely.

CONVENTION

OUT IN

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 Motion of a Charged Particle in a
Uniform Magnetic Field
 FB never has a component parallel to v and can’t
change the particle’s kinetic energy. The force
can change only the direction of v.
 Charged particle moves in a circle in a plane
perpendicular to the magnetic field.
 Start with  F  FB  ma
 Then, we have mv 2
FB  qvB 
r
mv T and ω do not depend on v of the particle.
 The radius of the circular path: r 
qB Fast particles move in large circles and slow
 The angular speed: v qB ones in small circles, but all particles with the
  same charge-to-mass ratio take the same time
r m T to complete one round trip.
 The period of the motion:  The direction of rotation for a positive particle
2r 2 2m is always counterclockwise, and the direction
T   for a negative particle is always clockwise.
v  qB
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 Motion of a Charged Particle
in Magnetic Field
 Circle Paths: v is perpendicular to B (uniform);
 Helical Paths: v has a component parallel to B.

v||  v cos 
v  v sin 
 Motion in a nonuniform magnetic field: strong at
the ends and weak in the middle;
 Magnetic bottle
 Aurora

October 31, 2007

 Circulating Charged Particle
3. The figures shows the circular paths of two particles that travel at
the same speed in a uniform magnetic field B, which is directed
into the page. One particle is proton; the other is an electron
(which is less massive). Which figure is physically reasonable?
A B C

mv
r
qB
D E

October 31, 2007

 Motion of a Charged Particle in a Uniform
Electric Field and Magnetic Field
 Charged particle in both electric field and
magnetic field
   
F  q E  q v B

 Velocity Selector:

qE  qvB E
v
B
 The Mass Spectrometer:
mv m rB0 m rB0 B
r  
qB q v q E
 The Cyclotron:

2m 1
T f  f osc  q B  2mf osc
qB T
October 31, 2007
 In Magnetic Field and Electric Field
5. The figures shows four directions for the velocity vector v of
positively charged particle moving through a uniform electric field E
(into the page) and a uniform magnetic field B (point to right).
Which direction of velocity has the greatest magnitude of net force?

E A
v
D v B B
v
v
C

October 31, 2007

 Magnetic Force on a Current-
Carrying Wire
 Free electrons (negative charges) move with
drift velocity vd opposite to the current.
 Electrons in this section feel Lorentz force:
  
F B  (q vd  B)nAL
 We have i  nqvd A
 So,   
F B  i L B
 Wire is pushed/pulled by the charges. L is a
length vector that points in the direction of i
and has a magnitude equal to the length.

 Arbitrarily shaped wire segment of uniform

cross section in a magnetic field.  b  
 
d F B  I ds B

F B  I  ds B
a
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 Suspend a wire
6. A straight, horizontal length of copper wire is
immersed in a uniform magnetic field. The current
through the wire is out of page. Which magnetic field
can possibly suspend this wire to balance the gravity?

A B C D

October 31, 2007

 Torque on a Current Loop
 Loop rotates. Calculate force for each side of
the loop:
F1  F3  ibB sin(90   )  ibB sin 
F2  F4  iaB
b b
 Torque:   F2 sin   F4 sin 
2 2
b b
 iaB( sin  )  iaB ( sin  )
2 2
 iabB sin   iAB sin 
  
  i A B
 Maximum torque  max  iAB
 Sinusoidal variation  ( )  
max sin 
 Stable when n parallels B.
 Restoring torque: oscillations.

October 31, 2007

 The Magnetic Dipole Moment
 
 Magnetic dipole moment
 iA

 SI unit: Am2, Nm/T = J/T 
B
 A coil of wire has N loops of the same area:
  Small bar magnet 5 J/T
 coil  Ni A
   Earth 8.0×1022 J/T
 Torque    B
Proton 1.4×10-26 J/T
 
 Magnetic potential U    B Electron 9.3×10-24 J/T

 Electric dipole and magnetic dipole

Electric Dipole Magnetic Dipole

Moment p  qd   NiA
  
Torque
   
  p E    B B
   
Potential Energy U   p E U    B

October 31, 2007  

U   p E
 Potential Energy
7. In which configuration, the potential energy of the
dipole is the lowest?

a b c

B
e
d

October 31, 2007

 Summary
 A magnetic field B is defined in terms of the force FB acting on a test particle with
charge q moving through the field with velocity v,   
FB  q v  B
 The SI unit for B is the tesla (T): 1T = 1 N/(Am).
 A charged particle with mass m and charge magnitude q moving with velocity v
perpendicular to a uniform magnetic field B will travel in a circle. Applying Newton’s
second law to the circular motion yields mv 2 mv
FB  qvB  r 
 From which we find the radius r of the circle to be qB
r
 The frequency of revolution f, the angular frequency, and the period of the motion T
are given by v qB 2r 2 2m
  T  
r m v  qB
 A straight wire carrying a current I in a uniform magnetic field   

experiences a sideways force F B  i L B

 The force acting on a current element idL in a magnetic field is   

 The direction of the length vector L or dL is that of the current i. d F B I dsB 
 A coil in a uniform magnetic field B will experience a torque given by   i A B
 Here is the magnetic dipole moment of the coil, with magnitude   NiA
and direction given by the right-hand rule.  
 The magnetic potential energy of a magnetic dipole in a magnetic field is U     B

October 31, 2007