A wire 28 cm long is parallel to a 0.36 T uniform magnetic field. The current through the wire is 4.5 A. What force acts on the wire?
What equation do you use? I tried F= ILBsin(90) and that didn't work!
To calculate the force acting on a wire in a magnetic field, you need to use the equation:
F = I * L * B * sin(theta)
Where:
F is the force acting on the wire
I is the current flowing through the wire
L is the length of the wire that is perpendicular to the magnetic field
B is the magnetic field strength
theta is the angle between the direction of the current and the magnetic field.
In this case, the wire is parallel to the magnetic field, so the angle theta is 0 degrees or 180 degrees (since sin(0) = 0 and sin(180) = 0). Therefore, the force acting on the wire is zero.
F = I * L * B * sin(0) = I * L * B * 0 = 0
So, you were correct in using the formula F = I * L * B * sin(theta). However, in this specific case where the wire is parallel to the magnetic field, the force acting on the wire is zero.