- #1
Arre
- 1
- 0
Hi everyone,
I have been trying to find an answer to the following question on several websites on the topic, but no luck until so far. Maybe there is someone who can help me here:
question:
If two charges move parallel to each other (say in vacuum and relative to me), with equal speed, will there be a magnetic force felt by each one from the other?
All explanations I have found so far say that indeed there is one, and this is often explained by the classical experiment with two parallel currents in wires.
But, I would say that is a different situation. The two charges in my question do not move relative to each other, and hence they do not see mutual magnetic influence, right?
In the two wire setup there is relative motion of two types of charges in each wire (the ions and electrons), hence a magnetic field will develop in each wire, causing both wires to attract. Or you could say that the electron current in one wire exerts magnetic force on the ion current in the other and vice versa (I know this sounds strange but hey, it's all relative motion that counts, not?).
The explanations of the two wire experiment I found seem odd to me, since they almost always explain things by regarding the Lorentz force on the electron movement only. But since there is no relative motion between the electrons (at equal currents and wires) this should not suffice for an explanation.
Comments are very appreciated, since I am puzzled.
regards,
Arjan
I have been trying to find an answer to the following question on several websites on the topic, but no luck until so far. Maybe there is someone who can help me here:
question:
If two charges move parallel to each other (say in vacuum and relative to me), with equal speed, will there be a magnetic force felt by each one from the other?
All explanations I have found so far say that indeed there is one, and this is often explained by the classical experiment with two parallel currents in wires.
But, I would say that is a different situation. The two charges in my question do not move relative to each other, and hence they do not see mutual magnetic influence, right?
In the two wire setup there is relative motion of two types of charges in each wire (the ions and electrons), hence a magnetic field will develop in each wire, causing both wires to attract. Or you could say that the electron current in one wire exerts magnetic force on the ion current in the other and vice versa (I know this sounds strange but hey, it's all relative motion that counts, not?).
The explanations of the two wire experiment I found seem odd to me, since they almost always explain things by regarding the Lorentz force on the electron movement only. But since there is no relative motion between the electrons (at equal currents and wires) this should not suffice for an explanation.
Comments are very appreciated, since I am puzzled.
regards,
Arjan