Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-b-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/paper-2/section-b/b6/a/solution
Past exam of the physics B course of the University of Cambridge 2014 Paper 2 Section B B6 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
The Biot-Savart law gives the magnetic field of a steady thin-wire electric current in vacuum:The cross product fixes the circulation direction by the right-hand rule; fields from different electric current elements superpose. Integration gives outside a straight infinite wire and at the centre of a circular loop of radius . A distributed electric current replaces by . This is a magnetostatic law: arbitrary time-dependent electric currents require retarded electromagnetic fields, not instantaneous substitution.
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