Three long, straight conductors are fixed at the corners of an equilateral triangle…

PHYSICS · Multi-part · CBSE · Physics · Magnetic Effects of Electric Current · Magnetic Effects of Electric Current

Problem

Three long, straight conductors are fixed at the corners of an equilateral triangle of side

6\,\text{cm}

and lie perpendicular to the plane of the triangle. (i) The currents in the conductors are: at vertex

X

4\,\text{A}

into the plane, at vertex

Y

4\,\text{A}

out of the plane, and at vertex

Z

4\,\text{A}

out of the plane. For each conductor, state the sense (clockwise or counter-clockwise) of the magnetic field it produces around itself in the plane of the triangle. (ii) Taking the centroid

C

of the triangle as the point of observation, examine the directions of the magnetic fields due to the three conductors at

C

. (iii) By combining your results from part (ii), deduce the qualitative direction of the resultant magnetic field at the centroid

C

and explain your reasoning step by step.

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