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## anonymous one year ago A 6.0 m section of wire carries a current of 5.2 A from east to west in the earth's magnetic field of 1.0 × 10^-5 T at a location where the magnetic field points south. In which direction does the magnetic force act on the wire? north, south, up, or down ?

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1. Michele_Laino

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2. anonymous

down?

3. Michele_Laino

we have to compute the magnitude of the magnetic field due to the wire

4. anonymous

how can we do that? what does it mean?

5. Michele_Laino

since we have to do a vector sum between the magnetic field of the wire and the earth's magnetic field

6. anonymous

ohh so it is moving south?

7. Michele_Laino

please sorry, it is not necessary to compute the magnetic field due to the wire

8. anonymous

ahh okie!

9. anonymous

so what does that mean? south is our solution?

10. Michele_Laino

the answer is up, since the magnetic forc acting on that wire is given by the subsequent formula: ${\mathbf{F}} = I\;{\mathbf{l}} \times {\mathbf{B}}$ where x stands for vector product. So the direction of the force is up with respect to the plane of the drawing

11. anonymous

ohhh okay! :O thank you!! that makes sense:)

12. Michele_Laino

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