- #1
siddharth5129
- 94
- 3
The whole idea of an electric field induced due to a changing magnetic flux seems to run wildly counterintuitive to me. Consider this set up as shown in my physics textbook. A current carrying solenoid placed along the axis of a circular conducting loop. A changing current through the turns of the solenoid causes a changing magnetic flux linked with the coil , which induces a non-conservative electric field , whose direction is tangential to the coil everywhere, and whose magnitude is constant. So far so good. Now , symmetry arguments would have me believe that the potential energy of the electron as it moves around the coil remains unchanging(as it must be of the same value at any point on the loop, due to the symmetry of the loop about the solenoid).But the coil gets heated up due to the current. Where does the heat energy come from if the electrons don't lose any potential energy? More importantly , across what segment of the coil is the emf induced, i.e what portion of the coil effectively acts as the battery? In every other example of current in circuits , the electrons at some point along the circuit move from a lower potential region to a higher potential region due to the work done by the emf maintaining mechanism (like across a battery from the positive end to the negative end or across the moving conductor in the case of motional emf ) , but apparently that does not happen here. Why? I know i am missing something crucial here , but would somebody please elaborate.