Force on a current carrying conductor in a magnetic field || 3D animated explanation || class 10th |

In this video, we will understand force on a current carrying conductor in a magnetic field. We know that when an electric current flows through a conductor, it produces a magnetic field and this conductor also has polarity like a bar magnet or like any other permanent magnet. This means conductor has two poles. One behaves as a magnetic north pole while the other behaves as the south pole. Also, polarity of the conductor depends upon direction of the current. When direction of the current changes, the polarity of the conductor also changes. Now let us consider a small aluminium rod AB. This aluminium rod is suspended horizontally from a stand using two connecting wires. Place a strong horseshoe magnet in such a way that the rod lies between the two poles with the magnetic field directed upwards. For this, put the north pole of the magnet vertically below and south pole vertically above to the aluminium rod. Connect the aluminium rod in series with a battery and a key. Now when we pass a current through the from end B to end A, we observe that the rod is displaced towards the left. When we reverse the direction of current flowing through the rod, we observe that the rod get displaced towards the right. This happens because force is exerted on the current carrying aluminium rod when it is placed in a magnetic field. In this scenario, magnetic field is acting vertically upward and the current is flowing right to left perpendicular to the magnetic field. So the force on rod will be perpendicular to both magnetic field and the current. This can be illustrated through a simple rule called Fleming's left hand rule. According to this rule, stretch the thumb, forefinger and middle finger of your left hand such that they are mutually perpendicular. If the first finger points in the direction of magnetic field and the second finger in the direction of current, then the thumb will point in the direction of motion or the force acting on the conductor.