That's a long wire!

A Parabolic wire y 2 = 4 x y^2=4x has a current I I flowing through it. Find the magnitude of the magnetic field at the focus of the wire.

Note

I = 1 0 7 A I=10^7A


The answer is 3.1415.

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

1 solution

Karan Chatrath
Aug 18, 2019

Let us consider the current to be moving in a clockwise nature. Let the coordinates of a general point on the parabola be defined by the following position vector

r p = t 2 4 i ^ + t j ^ + 0 k ^ \vec{r}_p = \frac{t^2}{4} \hat{i} + t \hat{j} + 0\hat{k}

The position vector of the focus of the parabola is:

r f = 1 i ^ + 0 j ^ + 0 k ^ \vec{r}_f = 1 \hat{i} + 0 \hat{j} + 0\hat{k}

r = r p r f \vec{r} = \vec{r}_p - \vec{r}_f

From here, a vector directed tangentially to the parabola (directed along the current) can be computed as such:

d L = ( t 2 i ^ + 1 j ^ + 0 k ^ ) d t d\vec{L} = \left(\frac{t}{2} \hat{i} + 1 \hat{j} + 0\hat{k}\right)dt

Now, Applying Biot-Savart Law:

d B = d B x i ^ + d B y j ^ + d B z k ^ = μ o I 4 π ( d L × r ^ r 2 ) d\vec{B} = dB_x \hat{i} + dB_y \hat{j} + dB_z \hat{k} = \frac{\mu_oI}{4\pi}\left(\frac{d\vec{L}\times \hat{r}}{\mid \vec{r} \mid^2}\right)

Substituting all expressions and simplifying leads to:

d B x = 0 dB_x = 0 d B y = 0 dB_y = 0 d B z = 16 ( t 2 + 4 ) 2 d t dB_z = \frac{16}{(t^2+4)^2}dt

From here:

B z = 16 ( t 2 + 4 ) 2 d t B_z = \int_{-\infty}^{\infty}\frac{16}{(t^2+4)^2}dt

This integral has a closed form solution and can be solved by taking t = 2 tan ( θ ) t = 2 \tan(\theta) as θ \theta varies from π / 2 -\pi/2 to π / 2 \pi/2 .

Therefore: B z = π \boxed{B_z = \pi}

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...