AP Physics 2 Exam Question:

A wire of length 2 meters carrying a current of 4 Amperes is placed in a uniform magnetic field of magnitude 0.5 Tesla directed perpendicular to the wire. If the angle between the direction of the current and the magnetic field is 60 degrees, find the magnitude and direction of the force experienced by the wire.

Answer:

Given: Length of the wire (l) = 2 m Current (I) = 4 A Magnetic field (B) = 0.5 T Angle between current and magnetic field (θ) = 60°

To find the force experienced by the wire, we can use the equation:

where F is the force, B is the magnetic field, I is the current, l is the length of the wire, and θ is the angle between the current and magnetic field.

Substituting the given values into the equation:

Therefore, the magnitude of the force experienced by the wire is 3.464 N.

To determine the direction of the force, we can use the right-hand rule.

If we point the thumb of the right hand in the direction of the current (from positive to negative), and the fingers in the direction of the magnetic field (from north to south), then the force will be directed toward the palm. In this case, the force will be in the downward direction.

Hence, the force experienced by the wire has a magnitude of 3.464 N and is directed downward.