Magnetic Sources

The Biot-Savart Law

 

km is the "magnetic constant" just as k = 9 x 109 Nm2/C2 was the proportionality constant in Coulomb's Law. The Biot-Savart Law for magnetism is somewhat comparable to Coulomb's Law for electricity. Notice its inverse-square dependence -- similar to Coulomb's Law (and Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation). This constant km is just a proportionality constant that is determined by the units we use. However, it is related to other constants,

The Biot-Savart Law gives the magnetic field due to a small current element. To find the full or complete or total magnetic field, we must integrate that small current element over the entire current;

Homework Assignment

Particular Geometries

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(c) Doug Davis, 2002; all rights reserved