Ampere’s law and symmetry

Problem 3.231 from Irodov.

A current I flows along a lengthy straight wire, as shown in the figure below. From the point O the current spreads radially all over an infinite conducting plane perpendicular to the wire. Find the magnetic field above and below the plane.

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A wire carrying current to an infinite conducting plane. We indicate the radial current on the plane with a few lines, but there is current flowing along every point of the plane.

Solution:

We will use this problem to demonstrate the use of Ampere’s law, starting with some simple scenarios. Our goal is to understand …

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Biot-Savart law on a polygon

A current I flows along a thin wire, shaped as a regular polygon with N sides, which can be inscribed intro a circle of radius R. Find the magnetic field at the center of the polygon. What happens if N is made very large?

Solution:

The polygon described in the problem is illustrated in the figure below, for N=8. The magnetic field created by this structure is the superposition of fields from N straight current carrying wires of length 2 R \sin (\pi/N). Therefore, we will need to find the magnetic field due to a wire of finite length first.

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The Biot-Savart law gives the magnetic field …

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Archimedes’ principle with worked examples

This article reviews Archimedes’ principle and elaborates on the idea with three fully solved examples. The reader is encouraged to attempt the problems on their own before checking the solution.

Consider a container A of fluid at rest, as shown in the figure below. Since the fluid is at rest the net force on any part of the fluid is zero. Let us draw an imaginary boundary around some region of the fluid, as shown in the figure. This parcel of fluid has a weight \rho_{\rm fl} V g, where \rho_{\rm fl} is the density of the fluid and V is the volume of the parcel. …

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Buoyancy of connected objects


JEE Advanced 2013 Paper 1, Question 12

A solid sphere of radius R and density \rho is attached to one end of a mass-less spring of force constant k. The other end of the spring is connected to another solid sphere of radius R and density 3 \rho. The complete arrangement is placed in a liquid of density 2 \rho and is allowed to reach equilibrium. The correct statement(s) is (are)

  1. the net elongation of the spring is \frac{4 \pi R^{3} \rho g}{3 k}.
  2. the net elongation of the spring is \frac{8 \pi R^{3} \rho g}{3 k}
  3. the light sphere is partially submerged.
  4. the light sphere is completely submerged.

Solution

Recall that the buoyant force experienced by …

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Bernoulli’s principle in a spray gun

JEE Advanced 2014 Paper 2, Questions 13 and 14

A spray gun is shown in the figure where a piston pushes air out of a nozzle. A thin tube of uniform cross section is connected to the nozzle. The other end of the tube is in a small liquid container. As the piston pushes air through the nozzle, the liquid from the container rises into the nozzle and is sprayed out. For the spray gun shown, the radii of the piston and the nozzle are 20 {\rm~mm} and 1 {\rm~mm}, respectively. The upper end of the container is open to the atmosphere.

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Q.1

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