Electromagnetic force of Electrons

[Next223]

TL;DR Summary

If you could command all the electrons in an average human body and get them to spin in synchronicity (a clockwise circle in the horizontal plane) how much magnetic force does that produce? Would it create a force against gravity and make you feel lighter? How much lighter?

If you could command all the electrons in an average human body and get them to spin in synchronicity (a clockwise circle in the horizontal plane) how much magnetic force does that produce? Would it create a force against gravity and make you feel lighter? How much lighter?

 

[PeroK]

Is there a pupose to this question? A ring of moving charges constitutes a steady current, which will produce a magnetic field. Most of the electrons is the human body are bound within neutral atoms and molecules. They are not free electrons.

 

[Next223]

I just want to know the answer its not homework or anything.

 

[PeroK]

I just want to know the answer its not homework or anything.

The question as it stands can't be answered because doesn’t make sense.

 

[Next223]

What more do you need to answer the question? Does it depend on the diameter of the circle they are spinning around and how fast they are going? What kind of formula should I look for to calculate it?

 

[PeroK]

What more do you need to answer the question? Does it depend on the diameter of the circle they are spinning around and how fast they are going? What kind of formula should I look for to calculate it?

It's the bit about commanding the electrons in the human body that doesn't make sense.

 

[Next223]

It's just a hypothetical. Are you wondering if I'm a mutant?

 

[weirdoguy]

It's just a hypothetical.

Hypothetical questions also have to make sense. You can't make all electrons in human body to "spin in synchronicity", whatever that means.

 

[Dale]

Summary:: If you could command all the electrons in an average human body and get them to spin in synchronicity (a clockwise circle in the horizontal plane) how much magnetic force does that produce? Would it create a force against gravity and make you feel lighter? How much lighter?

If you could command all the electrons in an average human body and get them to spin in synchronicity (a clockwise circle in the horizontal plane) how much magnetic force does that produce? Would it create a force against gravity and make you feel lighter? How much lighter?

I think what my colleagues here are trying to tell you is that electrons don't work that way. They do have angular momentum, but they are not little points orbiting a nucleus with a definite location and velocity at each point in time.

You could, in principle, ask what would happen if all of the electrons had the same angular momentum. But even that is problematic since the angular momentum is one of the things that characterizes atomic orbitals. So due to the exclusion principle you could only have one electron around each nucleus. This would obviously make matter very unstable.

So, what you might ask is something like this: suppose that you had a human-sized mass of monoatomic hydrogen gas in a human-sized container and they were all in a +z angular momentum eigenstate, what would the magnetic field be?

@weirdoguy @PeroK am I missing anything with this formulation?

 

[Baluncore]

But knowing the mass of a human body, you could work out the number of nucleons = neutrons + protons, then halve that to get the approximate number of electrons. From there, compute the total electric charge of the body in coulombs. The number will not be useful, but it would be interesting, and educational.

 

[Vanadium 50]

So, what you might ask is something like this: suppose that you had a human-sized mass of monoatomic hydrogen gas in a human-sized container and they were all in a +z angular momentum eigenstate, what would the magnetic field be?

Even that is problematic. Magnetic field where exactly?

The original question asks about force. The only possible question is what field provides the force. If it's the Earth's magnetic field, it will be tiny. And in the wrong direction (predominantly down).

 

[Baluncore]

If your body was ionised completely, and the electrons were collected, then they flowed as a one amp current along a conductor, how long would it take the total charge to pass ?
Mass of body = 100 kg
Mass of one nucleon = 1.675e-27 kg
Number of nucleons = 100 / 1.675e-27 = 5.97e28
Half nucleons are protons = 5.97e28 / 2 = 2.985e28
Each balanced by one electron = 2.985e28 electrons.
Elementary charge on electron 1.602e-19 coulomb.
1.602e-19 * 2.985e28 = 4.782e9 coulomb = 4.782 GC.
A 1 amp current is a charge flow of 1 coulomb per second.
It would therefore take 4.782e9 seconds to flow along a wire.
There are 365.25*24*60*60 = 31.5576 million seconds in a year.
The 1 amp current would need to flow for 4.782e9 / 31557600. = 151.53 years.
You can do nothing with that current because you were ionised in the first line.

 

[Next223]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I'm more into biology than this field so forgive me for asking questions that require further input to answer.

"You can do nothing with that current because you were ionised in the first line."
Do you mean that because there are a bunch of positive charges everywhere that it doesn't amount to much?

What if the question changes to this: We have a 1 foot diameter loop in the horizontal plane with all of the electrons in a human traveling on that loop. No other charges are present. You can choose their speed.

 

[PeroK]

What if the question changes to this: We have a 1 foot diameter loop in the horizontal plane with all of the electrons in a human traveling on that loop. No other charges are present. You can choose their speed.

That's a standard problem of electromagnetism. It's covered here, for example:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/magnetic/curloo.html

 

[256bits]

602e-19 * 2.985e28 = 4.782e9 coulomb = 4.782 GC.

Geez.
In layman terms, that's the charge in a million AA cells, 10, 000 car batteries, or a hundred electric forklift batteries, give or take.

 

[Baluncore]

Yes. It is a significant charge.

It gets more difficult if you only allow one electron per atom as you must then estimate the water content and chemistry of a body.
It takes a mother 9 months to produce a 3 kg baby. If the assembly of each atom of the child required one electron to flow, then what is the average current needed over the 9 months to make a baby.