Lenz's Rule

Claimed by Quinn Witsken

Short Description of Topic

The Main Idea

As we all know, it can often be very difficult to determine the direction of the non-Coulumb Electric Field at a location due to so many factors and thumb rules and such. The most common way to determine the direction of E(NC) is to point your thumb in the direction of -dB/dt. That can, however, be quite difficult to understand and conceptualize. The other way to determine it is using Lenz's Rule. Imagine placing a wire over the changing Flux, so that the conventional current runs in the direction of E(NC). This current would make it so that a magnetic field is created in the opposite direction of dB/dt. This means that the additional magnetic field attempts to keep the original magnetic flux constant. It does not succeed however, unless the wire was a perfect conductor. This helps you visualize that the magnetic field tries to balance out the first one, and you can use the right hand rule to try and visualize which way the electric field would be going to create a current in that direction.

It also gives the correct direction of current in the case of motional emf. It is very very easy to make conceptual mistakes with Lenz's rule to make sure you really understand it before attempting to use it.

A Mathematical Model

The beauty of this Rule is that there is absolutely no math involved. The only thing you need to use is the right hand rule, which is where you wrap your fingers in the direction of the conventional current and the way your thumb points is the direction of the magnetic field produced. After that, it's just imagining that magnetic field balance out the original one. It's a great way to conceptualize a difficult concept.

Examples

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