someHerrings
Magnetic Force
This diagram illustrates the principle of magnetic force in terms of electric forces only. There is no "magnetic force" involved in magnetism.
The negatively charged loops and their positively charged shields are models for wires but they could also just as easily represent a spinning negatively charged electron within the positive "shield" of the nucleus of it's atom.
Wires (and pretty much everything around) are electrically neutral - the number of positively charged protons equal the number of negatively charged electrons.
However when current begins to flow in a wire something happens. The motion of the electrons increases their electric field perpendicular to the wire.
At which point the lattice of the wire in which the electrons flow must also increase it's field so that the entire wire remains neutral. It does this by increasing the charge density of positive charges in the wire. (This is depicted in the drawing by simply increasing the amount of charge in the shield but in actuality the shield would contract it's volume to compensate for the increased field of the moving loop).
It's this "field compensation due to relative motion" that is the principle behind magnetic forces.
The drawing depicts the frame of reference of a charge moving in a loop as it "watches" other charges in a nearby similar loop/shield system.
From the perspective of an outside observer inside the laboratory, each current loop is travelling at the same speed inside their shield. The loops going in the same direction repel each other and the loops going in opposite directions attract each other.
When the loops that attract each other are allowed to fall together they tend to flip over and 'jump' on top of each other so that their axes are parallel. This action minimizes the distance between the opposite charges moving relative to each other and so is the lowest energy state.
Magnetic Force
This diagram illustrates the principle of magnetic force in terms of electric forces only. There is no "magnetic force" involved in magnetism.
The negatively charged loops and their positively charged shields are models for wires but they could also just as easily represent a spinning negatively charged electron within the positive "shield" of the nucleus of it's atom.
Wires (and pretty much everything around) are electrically neutral - the number of positively charged protons equal the number of negatively charged electrons.
However when current begins to flow in a wire something happens. The motion of the electrons increases their electric field perpendicular to the wire.
At which point the lattice of the wire in which the electrons flow must also increase it's field so that the entire wire remains neutral. It does this by increasing the charge density of positive charges in the wire. (This is depicted in the drawing by simply increasing the amount of charge in the shield but in actuality the shield would contract it's volume to compensate for the increased field of the moving loop).
It's this "field compensation due to relative motion" that is the principle behind magnetic forces.
The drawing depicts the frame of reference of a charge moving in a loop as it "watches" other charges in a nearby similar loop/shield system.
From the perspective of an outside observer inside the laboratory, each current loop is travelling at the same speed inside their shield. The loops going in the same direction repel each other and the loops going in opposite directions attract each other.
When the loops that attract each other are allowed to fall together they tend to flip over and 'jump' on top of each other so that their axes are parallel. This action minimizes the distance between the opposite charges moving relative to each other and so is the lowest energy state.