Force on a Semi Circular Loop

Magnetic field B is uniform and perpendicular to the plane of the

figure, pointing out of the page. The conductor, carrying current I
to the left, has 2 segments:
(1) a semicircle with radius, R and (2) a straight segment with For segment (2), F ⴝ ILB ≥n.
length L parallel to the x-axis.
Find the total magnetic force on this conductor. S

For the segment (1), Fig. 27.20 shows a segment d l

dl = R du,

S S
at angle u. The right-hand rule shows that
y the direction of d l : B is radially outward
S S
from the center; make
sure you can verify this. Because d l and B are perpendicular,
S
the
magnitude dF2 of the force on the segment d l is just dF2 =
dFy dF2
S
I dl B = I1R du2B. The components of the force on this segment
B (out) dl are
I
u dF2x = IR du B cos u dF2y = IR du B sin u
dFx
dl
F To find the components of the total force, we integrate these
R I expressions with respect to θ from u = 0 to u = p to take in the
du
I u whole semicircle. The results are
x p
L O I (in) F2x = IRB cos u du = 0
L0
p
F2y = IRB sin θ duθ = 2RIB
What is the total magnetic force on the conductor? L0
Ans : 2BIR + BIL
So The total force is in the positive y-direction:
S S S S
F ⴝ F1 ⴙ F2 ⴙ F3 ⴝ 0 ⴙ 2IRB≥n ⴙ ILB≥n ⴝ IB12R + L2≥n

Test Your Understanding of Section 27.6 The figure at right shows a top Switch Conducting
Which
view of two conducting rails on which a conducting bar can slide. A uniform magnetic orientation? bar
field is directed perpendicular to the plane of the figure as shown. A battery is to be con- A B
nected to the two rails so that when the switch is closed, current will flow through the bar
S S
and cause a magnetic force to push the bar to the right. In which orientation, A or B, F B
Conducting
should the battery be placed in the circuit? rails
 Force on a Semicircular Conductor

A wire bent into a semicircle of radius R forms a closed circuit and carries a cur- y S
B
rent I. The wire lies in the xy plane, and a uniform magnetic field is directed along
I
the positive y axis u
S
Find the magnitude and direction of the mag-netic force acting on the straight R ds
portion of the wire and on the curved portion.
du
S ol u T i on
u
Conceptualize Using the right-hand rule for cross products, we see that the force x
I
F1 = straight portion of the wire is out of the page and
F2 = curved portion is into the page. F1 = Out of the page,
F2 = the magnetic force on the curved
Is SF2 larger in magnitude than SF1 because the length of the portion is directed into the page.
curved portion is longer than that of the straight portion?

F1 5 I 3 d S
s 3 B 5 I 3 B dx k^ 5 2IRB k^
b R
S S S
Analyze Notice that d S
s is perpendicular to B
a
everywhere on the straight portion of the wire. Use 2R

Equation 29.12 to find the force on this portion:

S S
To find the magnetic force on the curved part, (1) d F 2 5 Id S
s 3 B 5 2IB sin u ds k^
first write an expression for the magnetic force
S
d F 2 on the element d S
s in Figure 29.20:
From the geometry in Figure 29.20, write an (2) ds 5 R d u
expression for ds :

F 2 5 23 IRB sin u d u k^ 5 2IRB 3 sin u d u k^ 5 2IRB 3 2cos u 4 0 k^

p p
S p
Substitute Equation (2) into Equation (1) and
0 0
integrate over the angle u from 0 to p:
5 IRB 1 cos p 2 cos 0 2 k^ 5 IRB 1 21 2 1 2 k^ 5 22IRB k^

Finalize First, the force on the curved portion is the same in magnitude as the force on a straight wire between
the same two points. In general, the magnetic force on a curved current-carrying wire in a uniform magnetic
field is equal to that on a straight wire connecting the endpoints and carrying the same current. Furthermore,
F1 + F2 = 0
General result: the net magnetic force acting on any closed current loop in a uniform magnetic field is zero.