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Course: AP®︎/College Physics 2 > Unit 4
Lesson 2: Magnetism and moving chargesMagnetic force on moving charges
Learn how to determine the magnitude and direction of the magnetic force experienced by a charge moving in a magnetic field.
Cross products
We'll need to understand cross products when working with magnetic forces. Like the dot product, the cross product is an operation between two vectors. Before getting to a formula for the cross product, let's talk about some of its properties.
We write the cross product between two vectors as (pronounced "a cross b"). Unlike the dot product, which returns a number, the result of a cross product is another vector. Let's say that . This new vector has a two special properties.
First, it is perpendicular to both and . Second, the length of is a measure of how far apart and are pointing, multiplied by their magnitudes.
It's similar to the dot product, but instead of the cross product uses , where is the angle between and . That way, when the angle is degrees, the cross product is at its largest. In this sense, the dot product and the cross product complement each other.
There's one interpretation of the length of that is particularly useful. Think of the parallelogram formed by and . The base of this parallelogram has length , and the height has length . That means the area of the parallelogram in total is precisely the magnitude of the cross product.
The right-hand rule
Notice that in the image above the cross product is perpendicular to and , as expected. But there are actually two vectors that could be perpendicular to and . If , then these two choices are and . How do we decide which of the two perfectly valid choices is the cross product?
We have a convention called the right-hand rule to resolve this ambiguity. If you hold up your right hand, point your index finger in the direction of , and point your middle finger in the direction of , then your thumb will point in the direction of .
It's arbitrary that we define the cross product with the right-hand rule instead of a left-hand rule, but by using this convention the cross product no longer has any ambiguity.
Magnetic force on a moving charge
Now let's return to the topic of magnetic force on a charge. The magnetic force on a charge is described by the Lorentz force law, which is given by the vector cross product:
Using the cross product relationship discussed earlier, we can write the magnitude of the magnetic force in terms of the angle ( ) between the velocity vector and the magnetic field vector:
Notice that if the charged particle is not moving then the magnitude of the magnetic force it experiences is zero.
The direction of the force can be found using the right-hand rule for the vector form of the equation.
Note: If the moving charge is negative (for example, electrons) then you need to reverse the direction of your thumb because the force will be in the opposite direction.
Example: Magnetic deflection of electrons in a cathode-ray tube
A cathode ray tube is an evacuated tube with an electron gun at one end and a phosphorescent screen at the other end. Electrons are ejected from the electron gun at high speed and impact the screen where a spot of light is produced on impact with the phosphor.
Because electrons have charge, it is possible to deflect them in-flight with either the electric or magnetic force. Controlling the deflection allows the spot of light to be moved around the screen. Old style 'tube' televisions used this principle with magnetic deflection to form images by rapidly scanning the spot.
Practice
The figure below shows a cathode ray tube experiment. A pair of coils are placed outside a cathode ray tube and produce a uniform magnetic field across the tube (not shown). In response to the field, the electrons are deflected and follow a path which is a segment of a circle as shown in the figure. What is the direction of the magnetic field?
Want to join the conversation?
- what is left hand slap rule(9 votes)
- >Find out if the charge is negative or positive
>If positive use right hand, if negative use left hand
>hold left/right hand out in front of you
>point thumb in direction charge is going
>the way your palm is facing tells you which way the field is going
> ?
> profit.(24 votes)
- what is electromagnetic induction(10 votes)
- Hello Yashwin,
Electromagnetic induction is what keeps the lights on!
Our generators operate on this principle. All you need is a wire and a moving magnetic field. Or you could have a stationary magnetic field and a moving wire. Either way, the magnetic field appears to be changing from the wire's perspective. When this occurs a current will be induced in the wire. Sal has done a few videos on this topic. See:
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/magnetic-forces-and-magnetic-fields/magnetic-flux-faradays-law/v/flux-and-magnetic-flux
Regards,
APD(18 votes)
- Is exercise 2b correct? The answer when I calculate it is 1.422 x 10^-4 T. Unless I'm entering the information in the calculator wrong, there maybe an arithmetic error here...
Here is what I punched in (even within google, you can copy and paste):
((9.1 * 10^-31) * (2 * 10^7)) / ((1.6 * 10^-19) * .8)(6 votes)- Good spot. Perhaps they rounded it off to 3 significant figures.(2 votes)
- So, this isn't a huge deal I think, but in question 2b, when it says "d is the horizontal deflection", it means the amount the electron is deflected from its original path right? Shouldn't it say vertical deflection instead?(6 votes)
- what does 'in/out of the page' mean?(3 votes)
- In the page means the vector is pointing straight perpendicular into the page/screen. Similar for out.(5 votes)
- "From the left-hand slap rule, we know that the magnetic force is perpendicular to the velocity. This is also the condition that gives rise to circular motion."
I don't understand how magnetic force when perpendicular to the velocity gives rise to circular motion?(4 votes)- That's how you move in a circle, by constantly accelerating in a direction that is perpendicular to your velocity at that moment. Review circular motion.(4 votes)
- plz explain 1c, why the wire gets deflected and how the weight is measured as well as the direction of magnetic field?(5 votes)
- I could not understand the exercise 2b solution. I have problem with the cathode ray tube experiment.(3 votes)
- I need more understanding.(3 votes)
- In 1c, how is the weight being used in the process of calculating the force?(4 votes)
- How was the formula F=qvB derived ? Can somebody explain?(2 votes)
- It's not derived, it's an empirical observation.(3 votes)