Question

A piece of straight wire has mass 20 g and length 1m. It is to be levitated using a current of 1 A flowing through it and a perpendicular magnetic field B in a horizontal direction. What must be the magnetic of B?

Answer 1

Data: m = 20 g = 2 × 10^-2 kg, l = 1 m, I = 1 A,
g = 9.8 m/s²
To balance the wire, the upward magnetic force must be equal in magnitude to the downward force due to gravity.
∴ F_m = IlB = mg
Therefore, the magnitude of the magnetic field,
B = \(\frac{m g}{I l}=\frac{\left(2 \times 10^{-2}\right)(9.8)}{(1)(1)}\) = 0.196 T