Lesson Ampere's Law

Learning Objectives

After this lesson, students should be able to

• Apply Ampere's law to calculate magnetic fields in symmetric situations.
• Describe the magnetic field of a toroid.

Educational Standards

Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards.

All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN), a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org).

In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.

NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards - Science

Common Core State Standards - Math

International Technology and Engineering Educators Association - Technology

State Standards

Worksheets and Attachments

Introduction/Motivation

In order to solve the MRI safety challenge (of this unit), we need to understand and measure the magnetic field given by current loops. Engineers continue to study magnetic fields, and they work with other engineers to aim to design more powerful MRI machines around 7 Tesla, compared to the conventional 1.5 Tesla used in most imaging facilities.

Class Demo: Force between Two Current Loops

Objective: The demo goal is to show the force between two current carrying loops. The attraction and repulsion between the loops closely resembles the force between magnets and can help students begin to visualize the force between current loops as related to a current within the solid or to the magnetic moment.

Materials:

• 2 small-diameter coil
• 2 30W or higher 5V DC power supply
• 2 lab stands
• 1 thin str aluminum foil
• 4 wires with alligator clip leads
• 1 roll tape

*This demo was tested with a 2-inch diameter coil of 100 turns using 20 gauge magnet wire held together with duct tape.

Before presenting the demo, pose the problem of two short segments of wire aligned in a parallel fashion and have students determine the direction of the magnetic field in each segment produced by the other segment. Then have them determine the direction of the magnetic force on each segment. Then consider many of these segments forming a loop in which each segment of the loop is attracted to the corresponding segment on the other loop. Have the students determine the magnetic moment vector of each coil to conclude that loops with parallel magnetic moments will attract.

Set up the demonstration as shown Figure A. Connect each loop to its own power supply, but do not complete the circuit until you are ready to start the demonstration as the wires may overheat. Do not leave the circuits connected for more than a few seconds. Momentarily complete the circuit to both coils and watch them attract. Reverse the current in one of the loops to see them repel.

Lesson Background and Concepts for Teachers

Legacy Cycle Information

This lesson fits into the research and revise phase of the legacy cycle during which students are provided with additional information enabling them to revise their initial ideas for solving the challenge. The research aspect consists of a class demonstration on the force between two current loops and a lecture on Ampere's law and its applications.

Ampere's Law

Although the total magnetic flux through a closed surface must be zero, the sum of the magnetic field around a closed loop does not have to be zero. More specifically, if a closed loop is imagined in space, we can create a vector at each tiny segment called dl pointing in the direction of the loop with a magnitude equal to the length of the segment. Then we will look at the magnetic field at that point, and take the dot product

As you might imagine, the magnetic field around a loop would be greater if a wire carrying current was passing through the interior of the loop. In fact, the exact value of the field around the loop is

This result is named Ampere's law, after its discoverer.

Much like Gauss law, it is useful in determining the magnitude of the magnetic field in highly symmetric situations.

Example: Determine the magnetic field outside of an infinitely long straight wire.

Solution: Consider a closed circular loop of radius R around the wire centered on the axis of the wire, as shown in Figure C. Note that the diagram is rotationally symmetric, so that the magnetic field must have a constant magnitude around the loop.

Thus,

Now by Ampere's law,

This result is in agreement with the Biot-Savart law. Note that this would appear to work for a finite segment of wire and give the same result, contradicting the result from the Biot-Savart law saying that

Experimentally, the Biot-Savart law has been shown to be correct. This discrepancy can be understood by realizing that the segment of wire must be part of a larger circuit, breaking the symmetry and invalidating the use of Ampere's law, or that the current must be a non-steady flow from one conductor to another. From this, we can surmise that Ampere's law must be valid only for steady-state currents.

Toroid

A toroid is basically a solenoid that is bent into a circle, as shown in Figure D. This doughnut-shaped figure has an inner radius a, an outer radius b, a current I, and a total number of turns N. To determine the magnetic field using amperes law, imagine a circular loop of radius r sharing a center with the toroid in the plane of the toroid.

Case 1: r < a

If r < a, then no current is passing through the loop, so

Since the diagram possesses rotational symmetry, the magnetic field must have equal magnitude anywhere along the loop, so B = 0 everywhere inside the inner radius.

Case 2: a < r < b

In this case, each turn passes through the loop in one direction, as shown in the cross sectional view in Figure E.

Case 3: r > b

In this case, for each inner turn passing current I through the loop in one direction, there is an outer turn passing current I through the loop in the other direction, so that the total current through the Amperian loop is zero, thus B = 0 everywhere outside the outer radius.

Vocabulary/Definitions

toroid: A surface generated by the revolution of any closed plane curve or contour about an axis lying in its plane.

Assessment

Homework: Assign students to complete the Ampere's Law Homework questions to assess their progress in comprehending the concepts.

References

Copyright

Contributors

Supporting Program

Acknowledgements

The contents of this digital library curriculum were developed under National Science Foundation RET grant nos. 0338092 and 0742871. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the NSF, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.