I have a problem in finding the direction of the force when a conducting wire is placed in a magnetic field. If I use Fleming's Right Hand rule I get a circular magnetic field, so what will be the direction of force acting on the wire. I have asked this question on other forums too, but still have no positive responses.
Let me give an example:
In the following question,
we can see a U magnet and a conducting wire. Now what is the direction of the force acting on the wire? I am confused between using the left and right hand rules.
Best Answer
Well, I have a way of remembering if you live in the UK - you always drive your motor on the left!
The diagram is correct - it shows what force will be exerted by the external magnetic field on the current carrying wire. The direction of the force is found from the left hand rule: splay your thumb and first two fingers out so they are mutually at right angles; the First finger represents the magnetic Field direction, the seCond finger represents the (conventional) Current flow and the thuMb indicates the direction of Motion (a.k.a. the direction in which the force acts on the current carrier).
The field generated by the current in the conductor is irrelevant for this problem.