Practice portal › Moving Charges and Magnetism › Force on a Current-Carrying Conductor

Equal currents are passing through two very long and straight parallel wires in mutually opposite directions. They will ......

Asked in RS Academy GUJCET booklet · Force between parallel currents

Answer: (2) repel each other

Step-by-step solution

Given: two long straight parallel wires carrying equal currents in opposite directions.

Idea: each wire lies in the field of the other and feels ⃗F=Iℓ⃗×⃗B.

Wire 1's field at wire 2 is perpendicular to the plane of the two wires, of magnitude (μ₀ I)/(2π d).

With wire 2's current running the other way, Iℓ⃗×⃗B points away from wire 1.

So the wires push each other apart: antiparallel currents repel, with a force per unit length (μ₀ I²)/(2π d).

Why the other options are wrong

More Force on a Current-Carrying Conductor questionsAll Force on a Current-Carrying Conductor questions →

Reading this solution needs no sign-in. You only sign in to practise against the clock and keep your progress.

Practise this with a timer