Plasma

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Atmospheric MagneticFieldsduetoaSolenoid
Optics
Science Asolenoidismadeoutofacurrentcarryingwirewhichiscoiledintoaseriesofturns(withtheturnspreferablyas
Antarctica closetogetheraspossible).ThemagneticfieldduetoastraightlengthofwireisshowninFigure1thefieldcircles
Penguins thewireanditsmagnitude(orstrength)decreaseswithradialdistancefromthewire.
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Figure1:Magneticfieldduetoastraightwire

Inasolenoid,alargefieldisproducedparalleltotheaxisofthesolenoid(inthezdirectioninfigure2).Components
ofthemagneticfieldinotherdirectionsarecancelledbyopposingfieldsfromneighbouringcoils.Outsidethe
solenoidthefieldisalsoveryweakduetothiscancellationeffectandforasolenoidwhichislongincomparisonto
itsdiameter,thefieldisveryclosetozero.Insidethesolenoidthefieldsfromindividualcoilsaddtogethertoforma
verystrongfieldalongthecenterofthesolenoid.

Figure2:Magneticfieldinasolenoid

Tocalculatethemagnitudeofthefieldinthesolenoid,weusedAmpere'slaw.Ampere'slawrelatesthecirculationof
Baroundaclosedlooptothecurrentfluxthroughtheloopxo.

Thisgivesthefieldinthecentreofthesolenoid.
 Figure3:UsingAmpere'slawtocalculateBo

Notethatsincethemagnitudeofthecurrentchangesintime,soalsodoesBo,i.e.,forasinusoidallyvaryingcurrent

SeeFigure4.|Bo|=oioN/Listheamplitude(maximumvalue)ofthefield.Youcanalsorefertoan"average"
valueof|Bo|called,therootmeansquare(RMS)value.BRMS=|Bo|/sqrt(2).

Figure4:Timevariationofthemagneticfieldinthesolenoid,alsoshowingBRMS.

However,thisdoesn'ttellyouwhatthefieldoutsidethesolenoidis.TocalculatethisyouneedtousetheBiotSavart
law.Fromsymmetry,alongthezaxisallthecomponentsofthefieldduetoacurrentloopcancel,exceptthe
componentinthezdirection.SoBatapositionzalongtheaxisofthesolenoidisgivenby

BiotSavartLaw

whereR=radiusoftheloop.The3rdequationshowsBasafunctionofzwhenz>>R.NotethatBdecreases
rapidlyaszincreases.
 Figure5:variationofBalongthezaxis

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