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Magnetic Fields and Electromagnetism

AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism · Topic 12

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12.1

Magnetic Fields

Syllabus
Learning ObjectiveEssential Knowledge

12.1.A
Describe the properties of a magnetic field.

  • 12.1.A.1 A magnetic field is a vector field that can be used to determine the magnetic force exerted on moving electric charges, electric currents, or magnetic materials.
    • 12.1.A.1.i Magnetic fields can be produced by magnetic dipoles or combinations of dipoles, but never by monopoles.
    • 12.1.A.1.ii Magnetic dipoles have north and south polarity.
  • 12.1.A.2 A magnetic field is a vector quantity and can be represented using vector field maps.
  • 12.1.A.3 Magnetic field lines must form closed loops, as described by Gauss's law for magnetism.
    • 12.1.A.3.i Maxwell's equations are the collection of equations that fully describe electromagnetism. Gauss's law for magnetism is Maxwell's second equation.
      • Equation: $\oint \vec{B} \cdot d\vec{A} = 0$
    • 12.1.A.3.ii Magnetic fields in a bar magnet form closed loops, with the external magnetic field pointing away from one end (defined as the north pole) and returning to the other end (defined as the south pole).

12.1.B
Describe the magnetic behavior of a material as a result of the configuration of magnetic dipoles in the material.

  • 12.1.B.1 Magnetic dipoles result from the circular or rotational motion of electric charges. In magnetic materials, this can be the motion of electrons.
    • 12.1.B.1.i Permanent magnetism and induced magnetism are system properties that both result from the alignment of magnetic dipoles within a system.
    • 12.1.B.1.ii No magnetic north pole is ever found in isolation from a south pole. For example, if a bar magnet is broken in half, both halves are magnetic dipoles.
    • 12.1.B.1.iii Magnetic poles of the same polarity will repel; magnetic poles of opposite polarity will attract.
    • 12.1.B.1.iv The magnitude of the magnetic field from a magnetic dipole decreases with increasing distance from the dipole.
  • 12.1.B.2 A magnetic dipole, such as a magnetic compass, placed in a magnetic field will tend to align with the magnetic field.
  • 12.1.B.3 A material's composition influences its magnetic behavior in the presence of an external magnetic field.
    • 12.1.B.3.i Ferromagnetic materials such as iron, nickel, and cobalt can be permanently magnetized by an external field that causes the alignment of magnetic domains or atomic magnetic dipoles.
    • 12.1.B.3.ii Paramagnetic materials such as aluminum, titanium, and magnesium interact weakly with an external magnetic field, in that the magnetic dipoles of the material do not remain aligned after the external field is removed.
    • 12.1.B.3.iii All materials have the property of diamagnetism, in that their electronic structure creates a usually weak alignment of the dipole moments of the material opposite the external magnetic field.
  • 12.1.B.4 Earth's magnetic field may be approximated as a magnetic dipole.

12.1.C
Describe the magnetic permeability of a material.

  • 12.1.C.1 Magnetic permeability is a measurement of the amount of magnetization in a material in response to an external magnetic field.
  • 12.1.C.2 Free space has a constant value of magnetic permeability, known as the vacuum permeability $\mu_0$, that appears in equations representing physical relationships.
  • 12.1.C.3 The permeability of matter has values different from that of free space and arises from the matter's composition and arrangement. It is not a constant for a material and varies based on many factors, including temperature, orientation, and strength of the external field.

Source: College Board AP Course and Exam Description

A magnetic field 磁场 $\vec{B}$ is a vector field 矢量场 that surrounds magnets, moving charges, and currents; it determines the magnetic force on any moving charge placed in it. Magnetic field lines 磁感线 must form closed loops: they leave the north pole, return to the south pole, and continue through the magnet. Denser lines mean a stronger field.

Field lines run from N to S outside a bar magnet Field lines run from N to S outside a bar magnet

Closed loops are the content of Gauss's law for magnetism, the second of Maxwell's equations 麦克斯韦方程组:

$$\oint \vec{B}\cdot d\vec{A}=0.$$

The net magnetic flux through any closed surface is zero – as many field lines leave as enter. That is exactly the statement that isolated magnetic monopoles 磁单极子 do not exist. Every source of magnetism is a magnetic dipole 磁偶极子 (a north–south pair), made by circulating charge – in materials, the motion of electrons. Break a bar magnet in half and you get two smaller dipoles, never a lone pole. Like poles repel, opposite poles attract, and a free dipole – a compass 指南针 – rotates to line up with the local field. Earth's own field is approximately a dipole, which is why a compass works. Dipole fields weaken with distance.

How a material responds to an external field depends on how its internal dipoles behave:

  • Ferromagnetic 铁磁性 (iron, nickel, cobalt): an external field aligns whole magnetic domains 磁畴, and the alignment survives after the field is removed – a permanent magnet.
  • Paramagnetic 顺磁性 (aluminum, titanium): dipoles align weakly with the field but relax when it is removed.
  • Diamagnetic 抗磁性 (all materials): the electronic structure produces a usually weak alignment opposite to the field.

The strength of a material's response is its magnetic permeability 磁导率. Free space has the constant value $\mu_0$ (the vacuum permeability); the permeability of matter differs from $\mu_0$ and is not even constant – it varies with temperature, orientation, and field strength.

Explore

See a magnet's field lines

Magnetic field lines run from north to south outside a magnet; where they crowd together the field is strongest.

Vocabulary Train
English Chinese Pinyin
magnetic field 磁场 cí chǎng
vector field 矢量场 shǐ liàng chǎng
magnetic field lines 磁感线 cí gǎn xiàn
Maxwell's equations 麦克斯韦方程组 mài kè sī wéi fāng chéng zǔ
magnetic monopoles 磁单极子 cí dān jí zi
magnetic dipole 磁偶极子 cí ǒu jí zi
compass 指南针 zhǐ nán zhēn
Ferromagnetic 铁磁性 tiě cí xìng
magnetic domains 磁畴 cí chóu
Paramagnetic 顺磁性 shùn cí xìng
Diamagnetic 抗磁性 kàng cí xìng
magnetic permeability 磁导率 cí dǎo lǜ
12.2

Magnetism and Moving Charges

Syllabus
Learning ObjectiveEssential Knowledge

12.2.A
Describe the magnetic field produced by moving charged objects.

  • 12.2.A.1 A single moving charged object produces a magnetic field.
    • 12.2.A.1.i The magnetic field at a particular point produced by a moving charged object depends on the object's velocity and the distance between the point and the object.
    • 12.2.A.1.ii At a point in space, the direction of the magnetic field produced by a moving charged object is perpendicular to both the velocity of the object and the position vector from the object to that point in space and can be determined using the right-hand rule.
    • 12.2.A.1.iii The magnitude of the magnetic field is a maximum when the velocity vector and the position vector from the object to that point in space are perpendicular.

12.2.B
Describe the force exerted on moving charged objects by a magnetic field.

  • 12.2.B.1 A magnetic field will exert a force on a charged object moving within that field, with magnitude and direction that depend on the cross-product of the charge's velocity and the magnetic field.
    • Equation: $\vec{F}_B = q\left(\vec{v} \times \vec{B}\right)$
  • 12.2.B.2 In a region containing both a magnetic field and an electric field, a moving charged object will experience independent forces from each field.
  • 12.2.B.3 The Hall effect describes the potential difference created in a conductor by an external magnetic field that has a component perpendicular to the direction of charges moving in the conductor.

Source: College Board AP Course and Exam Description

A moving charge in a magnetic field

A moving charge does two things: it creates a magnetic field, and it feels a force in an external one. The field it creates at a point is perpendicular 垂直 to both its velocity and the position vector from charge to point (right-hand rule again), and is largest where those two are perpendicular – zero directly ahead of or behind the motion.

The force on a charge moving in a field $\vec{B}$ is the cross product

$$\vec{F}_B=q\,\vec{v}\times\vec{B},\qquad F=qvB\sin\theta,$$

perpendicular to both $\vec{v}$ and $\vec{B}$ – point the fingers of your right hand along $\vec{v}$, curl toward $\vec{B}$, and the thumb gives the force on a positive charge (reverse it for negative). Because $\vec{F}_B\perp\vec{v}$, the magnetic force does no work on the charge: it changes direction, never speed.

A charge moving perpendicular to a uniform field therefore travels in a circle, the magnetic force supplying the centripetal force 向心力:

$$qvB=\frac{mv^2}{r}\quad\Rightarrow\quad r=\frac{mv}{qB},\qquad T=\frac{2\pi m}{qB}.$$

Notice the period $T$ does not depend on the speed – faster particles ride larger circles in the same time.

A charged particle moving across a magnetic field follows a circular path A charged particle moving across a magnetic field follows a circular path

Worked example. A proton ($q=1.6\times10^{-19}\ \text{C}$, $m=1.67\times10^{-27}\ \text{kg}$) enters a $0.50\ \text{T}$ field at $2.0\times10^{5}\ \text{m/s}$, perpendicular to it. The magnetic force $F=qvB=1.6\times10^{-14}\ \text{N}$ bends it into a circle of radius $r=\dfrac{mv}{qB}=\dfrac{1.67\times10^{-27}(2.0\times10^{5})}{1.6\times10^{-19}(0.50)}=4.2\times10^{-3}\ \text{m}$.

In a region with both an electric and a magnetic field, the two forces act independently and add as vectors. Balancing them makes a velocity selector 速度选择器: with $\vec{E}$ and $\vec{B}$ crossed, only charges with $qE=qvB$, i.e. $v=E/B$, pass straight through. The Hall effect 霍尔效应 is the same physics inside a conductor: a field with a component perpendicular to the current pushes the moving carriers sideways, charge builds up on one face, and a measurable potential difference appears across the conductor – its sign reveals whether the carriers are positive or negative.

Explore

Force on a moving charge

A charge moving through a magnetic field feels a force $F=qvB$ at right angles to both its velocity and the field — the basis of the motor effect. Reverse either and the force flips.

Vocabulary Train
English Chinese Pinyin
perpendicular 垂直 chuí zhí
centripetal force 向心力 xiàng xīn lì
velocity selector 速度选择器 sù dù xuǎn zé qì
Hall effect 霍尔效应 huò ěr xiào yìng
12.3

Magnetic Fields of Current-Carrying Wires

Syllabus
Learning ObjectiveEssential Knowledge

12.3.A
Describe the magnetic field produced by a current-carrying wire.

  • 12.3.A.1 The Biot-Savart law defines the magnitude and direction of a magnetic field created by an electrical current.
    • Equation: $d\vec{B} = \dfrac{\mu_0}{4\pi} \dfrac{I(d\vec{\ell} \times \hat{r})}{r^2}$
  • 12.3.A.2 The magnetic field vectors around a small segment of a current-carrying wire are tangent to concentric circles centered on that wire. The field has no component toward, away from, or parallel to the segment of the current-carrying wire.
  • 12.3.A.3 The Biot-Savart law can be used to derive the magnitudes and directions of magnetic fields around segments of current-carrying wires, for example at the center of a circular loop of wire.
    • Equation: $B_{\text{center of loop}} = \dfrac{\mu_0 I}{2R}$

12.3.B
Describe the force exerted on current-carrying wires by a magnetic field.

  • 12.3.B.1 A magnetic field will exert a force on a current-carrying wire.
    • Equation: $\vec{F}_B = \int I\left(d\vec{\ell} \times \vec{B}\right)$

Boundary statement: AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism only expects students to perform quantitative analysis of certain cases of current-carrying conductors using the Biot-Savart law, such as at a location along the perpendicular bisector of a straight conductor, at a location along the central axis of a circular loop, or at the center of a segment of a circular loop.

Source: College Board AP Course and Exam Description

The magnetic field around a current

A current is a stream of moving charges, so it creates a magnetic field. The Biot–Savart law 毕奥-萨伐尔定律 adds up the field of each current element:

$$d\vec{B}=\frac{\mu_0}{4\pi}\frac{I\,d\vec{l}\times\hat{r}}{r^2}.$$

Around any straight segment the field vectors are tangent 相切 to concentric circles 同心圆 centred on the wire – no component toward, away from, or along the wire. Curl your right hand around the wire with the thumb along the current: your fingers give the field direction.

Concentric circular field lines surround a straight current-carrying wire Concentric circular field lines surround a straight current-carrying wire

The Biot–Savart integrals AP expects: a long straight wire ($B=\dfrac{\mu_0 I}{2\pi r}$, or a point on the perpendicular bisector of a finite wire), and the centre of a circular loop,

$$B_{\text{centre of loop}}=\frac{\mu_0 I}{2R},$$

where every element $d\vec{l}$ is perpendicular to $\hat{r}$ and equally distant $R$ – say that in an FRQ derivation. An arc that is a fraction of a full circle contributes that same fraction of $\mu_0 I/2R$ at its centre.

A field also pushes on a current-carrying wire, element by element:

$$\vec{F}_B=\int I\,d\vec{l}\times\vec{B}\qquad(\vec{F}=I\vec{L}\times\vec{B}\ \text{for a straight wire in a uniform field}).$$

Worked example. Two long parallel wires a distance $d=0.10\ \text{m}$ apart each carry $5.0\ \text{A}$ in the same direction. Wire 1's field at wire 2 is $B=\dfrac{\mu_0 I}{2\pi d}=1.0\times10^{-5}\ \text{T}$, so wire 2 feels $\dfrac{F}{L}=I B=5.0\times10^{-5}\ \text{N/m}$, pulled toward wire 1. Same-direction currents attract; opposite currents repel.

Iron filings around a current-carrying coil A current-carrying coil (solenoid) makes a magnetic field shaped just like a bar magnet's

Vocabulary Train
English Chinese Pinyin
Biot–Savart law 毕奥-萨伐尔定律 bì ào - sà fá ěr dìng lǜ
tangent 相切 xiāng qiè
concentric circles 同心圆 tóng xīn yuán
12.4

Ampère's Law

Syllabus
Learning ObjectiveEssential Knowledge

12.4.A
Use Ampère's law to describe the magnetic field created by a moving charge carrier.

  • 12.4.A.1 Ampère's law relates the magnitude of the magnetic field to the current enclosed by a closed imaginary path called an Amperian loop.
    • Equation: $\oint \vec{B} \cdot d\vec{\ell} = \mu_0 I_{\text{enc}}$
    • 12.4.A.1.i Ampère's law can be used to determine the magnetic field near a long, straight current-carrying wire.
      • Equation: $B_{\text{wire}} = \dfrac{\mu_0}{2\pi} \dfrac{I}{r}$
    • 12.4.A.1.ii Unless otherwise stated, all solenoids are assumed to be very long, with uniform magnetic fields inside the solenoids and negligible magnetic fields outside the solenoids.
    • 12.4.A.1.iii Ampère's law can be used to determine the magnetic field inside of a long solenoid.
      • Equation: $B_{\text{sol}} = \mu_0 n I$
  • 12.4.A.2 An Amperian loop is a closed path around a current-carrying conductor.
  • 12.4.A.3 The principle of superposition can be used to determine the net magnetic field at a point in space created by various combinations of current-carrying conductors, or conducting loops, segments, or cylinders.
  • 12.4.A.4 Maxwell's equations are the collection of equations that fully describe electromagnetism. Maxwell's fourth equation is Ampère's law with Maxwell's addition; it states that magnetic fields can be generated by electric current (Ampère's law) and that a changing electric field creates a magnetic field, similar to the way a moving charge creates a magnetic field (Maxwell's addition).
    • Equation: $\oint \vec{B} \cdot d\vec{\ell} = \mu_0 I + \mu_0 \varepsilon_0 \dfrac{d\Phi_E}{dt}$

Boundary statement: AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism only expects quantitative application of Ampère's law limited to situations involving symmetrical magnetic fields. Long straight wires, long solenoids carrying currents, as well as conductive slabs or cylindrical conductors carrying a current density, are the types of shapes to which Ampère's law will be applied on the AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism Exam.

Boundary statement: AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism does not expect students to use Maxwell's fourth equation with a changing electric field. However, students should understand that a changing electric field generates a magnetic field.

Source: College Board AP Course and Exam Description

For symmetric current distributions, Ampère's law 安培定律 finds the field far faster than Biot–Savart:

$$\oint \vec{B}\cdot d\vec{l}=\mu_0 I_{\text{enc}}.$$

Choose an Amperian loop 安培环路 that matches the symmetry, so that $B$ is constant along the loop (and parallel to it) and comes out of the integral. AP applies it to long straight wires, long solenoids, and conductors carrying a current density 电流密度 (slabs and cylinders); combinations are handled by superposition 叠加.

Worked example. Find the field $0.10\ \text{m}$ from a long wire carrying $5.0\ \text{A}$. A circular loop of radius $r$ shares the field's symmetry, so $B(2\pi r)=\mu_0 I$ and

$$B=\frac{\mu_0 I}{2\pi r}=\frac{(4\pi\times10^{-7})(5.0)}{2\pi(0.10)}=1.0\times10^{-5}\ \text{T}.$$

A long solenoid 螺线管 (assumed: uniform field inside, negligible field outside) is the other classic. Take a rectangular loop with one side of length $L$ inside, parallel to the axis: only that side contributes to the integral, so $BL=\mu_0 (nL) I$ and

$$B_{\text{sol}}=\mu_0 n I,$$

with $n$ the turns per metre.

A rectangular Amperian loop derives the uniform field inside a solenoid A rectangular Amperian loop derives the uniform field inside a solenoid

Worked example (cylinder). A solid cylindrical conductor of radius $R$ carries current $I$ spread uniformly over its cross-section. Inside ($r), a circular loop encloses $I_{\text{enc}}=I\dfrac{r^2}{R^2}$, so $B=\dfrac{\mu_0 I r}{2\pi R^2}$ – the field grows linearly to the surface, then falls off as $1/r$ outside.

Exam skill. Every Ampère's-law answer earns its marks in the setup: name the loop, state why $B$ is constant and parallel to it (symmetry), and count $I_{\text{enc}}$ carefully before you solve. Maxwell's fourth equation adds one more idea you should know qualitatively: a changing electric field also creates a magnetic field – but AP will not ask you to compute with that term.

Vocabulary Train
English Chinese Pinyin
Ampère's law 安培定律 ān péi dìng lǜ
Amperian loop 安培环路 ān péi huán lù
current density 电流密度 diàn liú mì dù
superposition 叠加 dié jiā
solenoid 螺线管 luó xiàn guǎn
12.4

Exam tips

  • The magnetic force $\vec F=q\vec v\times\vec B$ is perpendicular to velocity — use the right-hand rule and note it does no work.
  • A charge in a uniform field moves in a circle with $r=\tfrac{mv}{qB}$.
  • Find the field of currents with Biot–Savart $d\vec B=\tfrac{\mu_0}{4\pi}\tfrac{I\,d\vec l\times\hat r}{r^2}$ or Ampère's law $\oint \vec B\cdot d\vec l=\mu_0 I_{enc}$ when there is symmetry.
  • Force on a wire is $\vec F=I\vec L\times\vec B$; keep the cross-product direction straight.
  • Distinguish the force on a charge from the field the current creates.

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