B field around a wire, single wire electromagnet

AI Thread Summary
The discussion focuses on the behavior of the magnetic field (B field) around a current-carrying wire and its interaction with an adjacent wire or conducting object. When current flows through a wire, it generates a B field that can affect nearby conductors; however, the field does not need to be perpendicular to the adjacent wire. In the case of alternating current (AC), high frequencies can lead to reduced penetration depth of the B field and the potential generation of eddy currents in nearby conductors. When an infinite conducting sheet is placed next to the current-carrying wire, it can block changes in the electric field but not the B field itself. The B field from a single wire can indeed cut through an adjacent conductor similarly to how it would from an electromagnet.
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A quick description. A single straight wire and a second straight wire, both wires are electrically as well as physically separated, the physical separation distance assume is very small in order for the B field experienced by the second wire to be sufficiently strong.

In all cases one of the wires is connected to a power supply and has current in it the other wire is connected to a test meter for current and voltage.

Here is what I want to understand. When current flows through a wire there is a B field around the wire commonly shown as an arrow forming a loop around the wire, what happens when I place a conducting object at any point next to the wire , does in theory the B field experienced by that conducting object (a piece of conducting foil for example) is cutting the object at 90 degrees and can be said to be perpendicular to it?

I've attached a picture with a drawing which is made such that (you) the observer is looking from the top of the wire end.
So if a DC current passes through the first wire a static B field is set around it and this B field penetrates as well as loops around the second adjacent wire (shown in orange) , I wonder what happens with AC, especially high frequency all the way up to RF?
I would expect that as the frequency increases the field penetration depth decreases , what happens now? Can we still say the B field is cutting the second wire/conductor perpendicularly or is it now looping entirely around it due to induced surface eddy currents in the second wire/conductor?
wire b field.png

And lastly, what happens when there is the same current carrying wire but now the adjacent wire is an infinite conducting sheet extending from the side of the current carrying wire away till infinity, in DC case the field would eventually go through the sheet but in AC case?
How would the AC current be affected in the wire if the wire's B field was "blocked" for the entire length of the wire?

wire b field 2.png


thanks.
 

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artis said:
does in theory the B field experienced by that conducting object (a piece of conducting foil for example) is cutting the object at 90 degrees and can be said to be perpendicular to it?
No. There is no requirement that the B field be perpendicular to a wire. In the case you have described the field is perpendicular to the “passive” wire, but that is dictated by your setup and not the laws of EM.

artis said:
Can we still say the B field is cutting the second wire/conductor perpendicularly or is it now looping entirely around it due to induced surface eddy currents in the second wire/conductor?
You don’t get substantial eddy currents in thin structures, you would need a sheet rather than a wire.

artis said:
what happens when there is the same current carrying wire but now the adjacent wire is an infinite conducting sheet extending from the side of the current carrying wire away till infinity, in DC case the field would eventually go through the sheet but in AC case?
In this case you will get some eddy currents and surface charges. This will block the E field of the wire and reduce the change in the B field. It will not block the B field per se, but just reduce its change.
 
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Dale said:
No. There is no requirement that the B field be perpendicular to a wire. In the case you have described the field is perpendicular to the “passive” wire, but that is dictated by your setup and not the laws of EM.

Well my bad I wrote it wrong.
I was basically asking at what angle would the B field that is around a current carrying wire cut another wire located adjacent to the current carrying one, and from what I see in your answer the field would cut the second "passive" wire mostly perpendicularly to its surface.
So a single straight wire can also produce a B field that cuts an adjacent conductor much like that which would come out of the end of a electromagnet coil?
 
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