Return to Changing Magnetic Flux notes
Review of Flux through a Loop
Suppose you have a magnetic field →B=0.6 mT ˆx. Three identical square loops with side lengths L=0.5 m are situated as shown below. The perspective shows a side view of the square loops, so they appear very thin even though they are squares when viewed face on.
Facts
- The orientations of the square loops are as indicated above. They can be described by their angles with respect to the magnetic field. θ1=0, θ2=90o, θ3=42o.
- The magnetic field is →B=0.6 mT ˆx.
- The length of a square's side is L=0.5 m.
Lacking
- The magnetic flux through each loop.
Approximations & Assumptions
- The loops have flat faces.
- The magnetic field does not change with time, and is uniform in space.
Representations
- We represent magnetic flux through an area as
ΦB=∫→B∙d→A
- We represent the situation with the given representation in the example statement above. Below, we also show a side and front view of the first loop for clarity.
Solution
Since the magnetic field has a uniform direction, and the area of the loop is flat (meaning d→A does not change direction either), then we can simplify the dot product: →B∙d→A=BdAcosθ
Since B and θ do not change for different little pieces (dA) of the area, we can pull them outside the integral:
∫BdAcosθ=Bcosθ∫dA=BAcosθ
Area for a square is just A=L2, and θ is different for each loop:
ΦB={BL2cos0=1.5⋅10−4 Tm2Loop 1BL2cos90o=0Loop 2BL2cos42o=1.1⋅10−4 Tm2Loop 3
Notice that we could've given answers for Loops 1 and 2 pretty quickly, since they are parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field, respectively, which both simplify the flux calculation greatly.