Ampere showed that parallel wires carrying current in opposite directions would ____ each other.
a)attract
b)repel
i think its repel.. but not sure. help me understand please!
thanks
http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/ampereexperiments.html
you are wrong.
repel
You are correct! Parallel wires carrying current in opposite directions will repel each other. To understand why, let's go through the explanation step by step.
When electric current flows through a wire, it creates a magnetic field around it according to Ampere's law. The direction of the magnetic field can be determined using the right-hand rule, where you curl your right hand around the wire with your thumb pointing in the direction of the current, and your fingers will indicate the direction of the magnetic field.
Now, let's consider two parallel wires placed next to each other. If the currents in both wires are flowing in the same direction, the magnetic fields created by each wire will have the same direction. As a result, these magnetic fields will reinforce each other, leading to an attractive force between the wires.
On the other hand, if the currents in the parallel wires are flowing in opposite directions, the magnetic fields created by each wire will have opposite directions as well. In this case, the magnetic fields will oppose each other, resulting in a repulsive force between the wires.
So, to summarize, Ampere's experiment showed that parallel wires carrying current in opposite directions will repel each other.