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Can a magnet induce current in a stationary, straight copper wire?

Physics Asked by curiousgeorge on December 16, 2020

If a magnet moves near a coil, it generates a changing flux which generates current due to Faraday’s Law. Clearly there is no flux when we consider a straight wire, but it seems to me that a current should still form.

Each electron in the wire behaves like a small magnetic dipole (since they rotate around the nucleus). Then since magnets repel/attract each other, shouldn’t a permanent magnet placed near a copper wire produce a current by repelling or attracting the electrons? It feels wrong because neither the magnet nor the wire are moving, but I can’t see why there shouldn’t be a current.

One Answer

If a wire, coiled or not, is moving through a magnetic field, or the field moves near the wire, some current can be generated. Coils will have more wire in the magnetic flux and produce more current. If both the magnetic field and the wire are stationary to each other, no current will be produced.

Answered by Adrian Howard on December 16, 2020

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