PHYSICS BY MR.
VIVEK AGARWAL
CLASS- XII
CHAPTER- 4
MAGNETIC EFFECT OF CURRENT
1. An element l = x iˆ is placed at the origin and carries a large current I = 10 A.
What is the magnetic field on the y-axis at a distance of 0.5m? x = 1cm.
2. Figure shows two current carrying wires 1 and 2. Find the magnitudes and directions of the magnetic
field at points P, Q and R. Ans. (i) 2 × 10–5T (ii) 10–4T
3. Consider a tightly wound 100 turn coils of radius 10cm, carrying a current of 1A. What is the magnitude
of the magnetic field at the centre of the coil. Ans. 6.28 × 10–4T
4. In the Bohr model of hydrogen atom, an electron revolves around the nucleus in a circular orbit of radius
5.11 × 10–11m at a frequency of 6.8 × 1015 Hz. What is the magnetic field set up at the centre of the orbit?
Ans. 13.4 T
5. The radius of the first orbit of hydrogen atom is 0.5Å. The electron moves in an orbit with a uniform
speed of 2.2 × 106 ms–1. What is the magnetic field produced at the centre of the nucleus due to the
motion of the electron? Use 0 / 4 = 10–7 NA–2 and electronic charge = 1.6 × 10–19C. Ans. 14.07 T
6. A straight wire carrying a current of 12A is bent into a semicircular are of radius 2.0 cm as shown in
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figure. What is the direction and magnitude of B at the centre of the arc? Would your answer change if
the wire were bent into a semicircular arc of the same radius but in the opposite way as shown in figure?
Ans. (i) 1.9 × 10–4 T
7. The wire shown in figure carries a current of 10A. Determine the magnitude of the magnetic field at the
centre O. Given radius of the bent coil is 3cm. Ans. 1.57 × 10–3 T
PHYSICS BY MR. VIVEK AGARWAL
8. As shown in figure a cell is connected across two points A and B of uniform circular conductor. Prove
that the magnetic field at its centre O will be zero.
9. A straight wire, of length metre, is bent into a circular shape. If the wire were to carry a current of
2
5A, calculate the magnetic field, due to it, before bending, at a point distant 0.01 times the radius of the
circle formed from it. Also calculate the magnetic field at the centre of the circular loop formed, for the
same value of current. Ans. 1.256 × 10–5 T
10. A solenoid of length 0.5m has a radius of 1cm and is made up of 500 turns. It carries a current of 5A.
What is the magnitude of the magnetic field inside the solenoid? Ans. 6.28 × 10–3T
11. A 0.5m long solenoid has 500 turns and has a flux density of 2.52 × 10–3T at its centre. Find the current
in the solenoid. Given 0 = 4 × 10–7Hm–1. Ans. 2.0 A
12. An electron is moving northwards with a velocity of 3.0 × 107 ms–1 in a uniform magnetic field of 10 T
directed eastwards. Find the magnitude and the direction of the force on the electron. Ans. 4.8 × 10–11N
13. A positive charge of 1.5C is moving with a speed of 2 × 106 ms–1 along the positive X-axis. A magnetic
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field, B = (0.2 ˆj + 0.4kˆ) tesla acts in space. Find the magnetic force acting on the charge.
14. A long straight wire AB carries a current of 4A. A proton P travels at 4 × 10 5 m/s, parallel to the wire
0.2m from it and in a direction opposite to the current as shown in the figure.
Calculate the force which the magnetic field of current exerts on the proton. Also specify the direction
of the force. Ans. 2.56 × 10–18N.
15. Copper has 8.0 × 1028 electrons per cubic metre. A copper wire of length 1m and cross-sectional area
8.0 × 10–6 m2 carrying a current and lying at right angle to a magnetic field of strength 5 × 10 –3 T
experiences a force of 8.0 × 10–2N. Calculate the drift velocity of free electrons in the wire.
Ans. 1.56 × 10–4 ms–1.
16. An electron is moving at 106 ms–1 in a direction parallel to a current of 5A, flowing through an infinitely
long straight wire, separated by a perpendicular distance of 10cm in air. Calculate the magnitude of the
force experienced by the electron. Ans. 1.6 × 10–18N.
17. What is the radius of the path of an electron (mass 9 × 10 –31 kg and charge 1.6 × 10–19C) moving at a
speed of 3 × 107 ms–1 in a magnetic field of 6 × 10–4T perpendicular to it? What is its frequency?
Calculate its energy in keV. (1eV = 1.6 × 10–19J) Ans. 2.5 keV
PHYSICS BY MR. VIVEK AGARWAL
18. An electron travels in a circular path of radius 20cm in a magnetic field 2 × 10 –3T. (i) Calculate the
speed of the electron. (ii) What is the potential difference through which the electron must be accelerated
to acquire this speed? Ans. (i) 7.0 × 107 ms–1 (ii) 14 kV
19. An electron after being accelerated through a potential difference of 10 4 V enters a uniform magnetic
field of 0.04 T perpendicular to its direction of motion. Calculate the radius of curvature of its trajectory.
Ans. 8.43 mm
20. An electron beam passes through a magnetic field of 2 × 10 –3 Wb m–2 and an electric field of 3.4×10–4
Vm–1, both acting simultaneously. If the path of the electron remains undeviated, calculate the speed of
the electrons. If the electric field is removed, what will be the radius of the circular path? Mass of an
electron = 9.1 × 10–31 kg. Ans. 1.7 × 107 ms–1.
21. A monoenergetic electron beam of initial energy is 18 keV moving horizontally is subjected to a vertical
magnetic field of 0.4 G normal to its initial ………. Calculate the vertical deflection of the beam ……
distance of 30cm. Ans. 11.32 m, 4mm
22. A cyclotron’s oscillator frequency is 10MHz. What should be the operating magnetic field for
accelerating protons? If the radius of the dees is 60cm, what is the kinetic energy of the proton beam
produced by the acceleration? (e = 1.60 × 10–19C, mp = 1.67 × 10–27kg). Express your answer in units of
MeV (1MeV = 1.602 × 10–13J) Ans. 0.66 T, 7.4 MeV
23. The horizontal component of the earth’s magnetic field at a certain place is 3.0 × 10 –5T and the direction
of the field is from the geographic south to the geographic north. A very long straight conductor is
carrying a steady current of 1A. What is the force per unit length on it when it is placed on horizontal
table and the direction of the current is (a) east to west (b) south to north?
Ans. (a) 3.0 × 10–5 Nm–1 (b) 0
24. A straight wire of mass 200 g and length 1.5m carries a current of 2A. It is suspended in mid-air by a
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uniform horizontal magnetic field B . What is the magnitude of the magnetic field? Ans. 0.65 T
25. A solenoid 60 cm long and of radius 4.0 cm has 3 layers of windings of 300 turns each. A 2.0 cm long
wire of mass 2.5g lies inside the solenoid near its centre normal to its axis; both the wire and the axis of
the solenoid are in the horizontal plane. The wire is connected through two leads parallel to the axis of
the solenoid to an external battery which supplies a current of 6.0 A in the wire. What value of current
in the windings of the solenoid can support the weight of the wire? g = 9.8 ms –2. Ans. 108.3 A
26. A current of 5.0 A flows through each of two parallel long wires. The wires are 2.5 cm apart. Calculate
the force acting per unit length of each wire. Use the standard value of constant required. What will be
the nature of the force, if both current flow in the same direction? Ans. 2 × 10–4 Nm–1.
27. A long horizontal wire P carries a current of 50A. It is rigidly fixed. Another fine wire Q is placed
directly above and parallel to P. The weight of the wire Q is 0.075 Nm–1 and it carries a current of 25 A.
Find the position of the wire Q from the wire P so that Q remains suspended due to the magnetic
repulsion. Also indicate the direction of current in Q with respect to P. Ans. 3.33 mm
28. A rectangular loop of wire of size 4cm × 10cm carries a steady current of 2A. A straight long wire
carrying 5A current is kept near the loop as shown. If the loop and the wire are coplanar, find
PHYSICS BY MR. VIVEK AGARWAL
(i) the torque acting on the loop, and
(ii) the magnitude and direction of the force on the loop due to the current carrying wire.
29. A rectangular coil of sides 8cm and 6cm having 2000 turns and carrying a current of 200 mA is placed
in a uniform magnetic field of 0.2 T directed along the +ve X-axis.
(i) What is the maximum torque the coil can experience? In which orientation does it experience the
maximum torque?
(ii) For which orientation of the coil is the torque zero? When is this equilibrium stable and when is it
unstable?
30. A 100 turn closely wound circular coil of radius 10cm carries a current of 3.2A. (i) What is the field at
the centre of the coil? (ii) What is the magnetic moment of this arrangement?
The coil is placed in a vertical plane and is free to rotate about a horizontal axis which coincides with
its diameter. A uniform magnetic field 2T in the horizontal direction exists such that initially the axis of
the coil is in the direction of the field. The coil rotates through an angle of 90° under the influence of
the magnetic field. (iii) What are the magnitudes of the torques on the coil in the initial and final
positions? (iv) What is the angular speed acquired by the coil when it has rotated by 90°? The M.I. of
the coil is 0.1kg m2? Ans. (i) 2 × 10–3T (ii) 10 Am2 (iii) 20 Nm (iv) 20 rad s–1.
31. A rectangular coil of area 5.0 × 10–4 m2 and 60 turns in pivoted about one of its vertical sides. The coil
is in a radial horizontal field of 90 G (‘radial’ here means the field lines are in the plane of the coil for
any orientation). What is the torsional constant of the hair-springs connected to the coil if a current of
0.20 mA produces an angular deflection of 18°. Ans. 3.0 × 10–9 Nm deg–1.
32. A moving coil meter has the following particulars: Number of turns, N = 24; Area of the coil, A = 20 ×
10–3 m2; Magnetic field strength, B = 0.20 T; Resistance of the coil, R = 14.
(i) Indicate a simple way to increase the current sensitivity of the meter by 25%. (It is not easy to
change A or B).
(ii) If in doing so, the resistance of the coil increases to 21, is the voltage sensitivity of the modified
meter greater or less than the original meter?
33. To increase the current sensitivity of a moving coil galvanometer by 40%, its resistance is increased so
that the new resistance becomes twice its initial resistance. BY what factor does its voltage sensitivity
change? Ans. 0.75 VS.
34. A galvanometer with a coil of resistance 12.0 shows full scale deflection for a current of 2.5 mA.
How will you convert the meter into:
(i) an ammeter of range 0 to 7.5 A,
(ii) a voltmeter of range 0 to 10.0 V?
Determine the net resistance of the meter in each case. When an ammeter is put in a circuit, does it read
(slightly) less or more than the actual current in the original circuit? When a voltmeter is put across a
part of the circuit, does it read (slightly) less or more than the original voltage drop? Explain.
Ans. (i) 4.0 × 10–3 (ii) 4000
35. In the circuit figure below, the current is to be measured. What is the value of the current if the ammeter
shown
PHYSICS BY MR. VIVEK AGARWAL
(a) is a galvanometer with a resistance Rg = 60.00 ; (b) is a galvanometer described in (a) but converted
to an ammeter by a shunt resistance R s = 0.02 ; and (c) is an ideal ammeter with zero resistance?
Ans. (a) 0.048 A (b) 0.99 A (c) 1.00 A
36. In a galvanometer there is a deflection of 10 divisions per mA. The internal resistance of the
galvanometer is 60 . If a shunt of 2.5 is connected to the galvanometer and there are 50 divisions in
all, on the scale of galvanometer, what maximum current can this galvanometer read? Ans. 125mA
37. A galvanometer having resistance of 50 gives a full deflection for a current of 0.05A. Calculate the
length of the shunt wire of 2mm diameter required to convert the galvanometer to an ammeter reading
current upto 5A. Specific resistance for the material of the wire is 5 × 10–7 m. Ans. 3.17 m
38. A galvanometer can be converted into a voltmeter of certain range by connecting a resistance of 980
in series with it. When the resistance is 470 connected in series, the range is halved. Find the resistance
of the galvanometer. Ans. Rg = 40
39. A voltmeter V of resistance 400 is used to measure the potential difference across a 100 resistor in
the circuit shown in figure.
(i) What will be the reading on the voltmeter? Ans. 24 V
(ii) Calculate the potential difference across 100 resistor before the voltmeter is connected. Ans.28
40. A d.c. supply of 120V is connected to a large resistance X. A voltmeter of resistance 10k placed in
series in the circuit reads 4V. What is the value of X? What do you think is the purpose in using a
voltmeter, instead of an ammeter, to determine the large resistance X? Ans. 290 k
41. (a) A battery of emf 9V and negligible internal resistance is connected to a 3k resistor. The potential
drop across a part of the resistor (between point A and B in figure) is measured by (i) a 20kW
voltmeter; (ii) 1 kW voltmeter. In (iii) both the voltmeters are connected across AB. In which case
would you get the (1) highest (2) lowest reading?
(b) Do your answer to this problem alter if the potential drop across the entire resistor is measured?
What if the battery has non-negligible resistance?
PHYSICS BY MR. VIVEK AGARWAL
PROBLEM ON HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILL
HOTS
1. Obtain the dimensional formula of (i) 0 (permittivity of vacuum) and (ii) 0 (permeability of vacuum)
in terms of mass M, length L, time T and electric current I. Ans. (i) [M–1L–3T4I2] (ii) [MLT–2I–2]
2. A long wire is bent into a circular coil of one turn and then into a circular coil of smaller radius having
n turns. If the same current passes in both the cases, find the ratio of the magnetic fields produced at the
centre in the two cases. Ans. 1 : n2
3. An electron revolves in a circular orbit of radius r with angular speed . Using the expression for the
magnetic field due to a circular current loop, deduce an expression for the magnetic field at the centre
of the electron orbit.
4. Two coaxial current loops L1 and L2 of radii 3cm and 4cm are placed as shown.
What should be the magnitude and direction of the current in the loop L2 so that the net magnetic field
at the point O be zero? Ans. 0.56 A
5. A student records the following data for the magnitudes (B) of the magnetic field at axial points at
different distance x from the centre of a circular coil of radius a carrying a current I, as shown in the
figure. Verify (for any two) that these observations are in good agreement with the expected theoretical
variation of B with x.
x→ x=0 x=a x = 2a x = 3a
B→ B0 0.25 2B0 0.039 5 B0 0.010 10 B0
6. (a) Two circular coils X and Y having radii R and R/2 respectively are placed in horizontal plane with
their centres coinciding with each other. Coil X has a current I flowing through it in the clockwise
sense. What must be the current in coil Y to make the total magnetic field at the common centre of
the two coils, zero.
(b) With the same current flowing in the two coils, if the coil Y is now lifted vertically upwards though
a distance R, what would be the net magnetic field at the centre of coil Y?
7. (a) Figure shows a long straight wire of finite cross-section carrying steady current I. The current I is
uniformly distributed across this cross-section of radius a. Calculate the magnetic field in the region
r < a and r > a. Plot a graph showing the variation of field B with distance r.
(b) Calculate the ratio of magnetic field at a point a/2 above the surface of the wire to that at a point a/2
below its surface. What is the maximum value of the field of this wire?
PHYSICS BY MR. VIVEK AGARWAL
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8. A charge ‘q’ moving along the X-axis with a velocity v is subjected to a uniform magnetic field B
acting along the Z-axis as it crosses the origin O.
(i) Trace its trajectory.
(ii) Does the charge gain kinetic energy as it enters the magnetic field? Justify your answer.
9. A proton and an alpha particle enter at right angles into a uniform magnetic field of intensity B. Calculate
the ratio of the radii of their paths, when they enter the field with the (i) same momentum, (ii) same
kinetic energy. Ans. (i) 2 : 1 (ii) 1 : 1
10. A proton, a deutron and an alpha particle having the same kinetic energy are allowed to pass through a
uniform magnetic field perpendicular to their direction of motion. Compare the radii of their circular
paths. Ans. 1: 2 :1
11. A neutron, a proton, an electron and an -particle enter a region of constant magnetic field with equal
velocities. The magnetic field is along the inward normal to the plane of the paper.
The tracks of the particles are labelled in figure. Related the track to the four particles.
12. Two long wire carrying current I1 and I2 are arranged as shown in figure. The one carrying current I1 is
along the x-axis. The other carrying current I2 is along a line parallel to the y-axis given by x = 0 and
z = d.
Find the force exerted at O2 because of the wire along the x-axis. Ans. 0
13. Find the magnitude of the force on each segment of the wire shown below, if a magnetic field of 0.30
T, is applied parallel to AB and DE.
Take the value of the current, flowing in the wire as 1 ampere.
Ans. 0.015 N
14. A wire AB is carrying a current of 12 A and is lying on the table. Another wire CD, carrying a current
of 5A, is arranged just above AB at a height of 1mm. What should be the weight, per unit length of this
wire so that CD remains suspended at its position? Indicate the direction of current in CD and the nature
of force between the two wires. Ans. 1.2 × 10–2Nm–1
PHYSICS BY MR. VIVEK AGARWAL
15. A galvanometer can be converted into a voltmeter to measure up to
(i) ‘V’ volts by connecting a resistance R1 in series with coil.
(ii) V/2 volts by connecting a resistance R2 in series with its coil.
Find the resistance (R) in terms of R1 and R2 required to convert it into a voltmeter that can read up to
‘2V’ volts. Ans. 3R1 – 2R2
16. In the circuit shown in figure, a voltmeter reads 30V, when it is connected across 400 resistance.
Calculate what the same voltmeter will read, when connected across the 300 resistance. Ans. 22.5V
17. A voltmeter of resistance RV and an ammeter of resistance RA are connected in a circuit to measure, a
resistance R as shown in figure. The ratio of the meter reading gives an apparent resistance R’. Show
1 1 1
that R and R’ are related by the relation = – .
R R RV
