A long straight wire carries a current of 6.2 A. The wire is horizontal in the p
ID: 2106590 • Letter: A
Question
A long straight wire carries a current of 6.2 A. The wire is horizontal in the plane of the page (screen) and the current is traveling to the left. An electron is 2.9 cm above the wire, and moving toward the wire at a speed of 4.60e-6 m/s.
a) Calculate the force that acts on the electron.
b) What is the direction of the force?
e (electron moving toward wire - down)
________________________________________________ wire
<-- I (current)
I know this question has been posted, but I want a detailed explanation. Will award points to a well put together, and correct answer. Thanks!
Explanation / Answer
see her the force on the electron is because of the magnetic field created by the current moving in the wire this force can be given by = q*(VxB). now we can calculate the B due to current carrying long wire which is equal to = Ui/4(pie)D now by calculating this we can easily multiply with the speed of the electron as the direction of B is into the page. and since electron is moving towards right force on it should be towards away from the wire if q is positive but since it is a electron the force will be towards the wire. more over u can imagine that moving electron is like current flowing in oppsite direction now u know that two wire carrying current in same direction attract one another hence here also the underlying wire will attract the electronb towards it.