Department of ECE

EC6403-Electro Magnetic Fields

UNIT III
STATIC MAGNETIC FIELDS 9
Biot -Savart Law, Magnetic field Intensity, Estimation of Magnetic field Intensity for
straight and circular conductors, Amperes Circuital Law, Point form of Amperes
Circuital Law, Stokes theorem, Magnetic flux and magnetic flux density, The Scalar and
Vector Magnetic potentials, Derivation of Steady magnetic field Laws.

Prepared By,
B.Sharmi,
AP/ECE
KNSKCE

Unit III Static Magnetic Field

Introduction :
In previous chapters we have seen that an electrostatic field is produced by static or stationary
charges. The relationship of the steady magnetic field to its sources is much more complicated.
The source of steady magnetic field may be a permanent magnet, a direct current or an electric field
changing with time. In this chapter we shall mainly consider the magnetic field produced by a direct
current. The magnetic field produced due to time varying electric field will be discussed later.
Historically, the link between the electric and magnetic field was established Oersted in 1820.
Ampere and others extended the investigation of magnetic effect of electricity . There are two major
laws governing the magnetostatic fields are:

Biot-Savart Law
Ampere's Law

Usually, the magnetic field intensity is represented by the vector

. It is customary to represent the
direction of the magnetic field intensity (or current) by a small circle with a dot or cross sign
depending on whether the field (or current) is out of or into the page as shown in Fig. 2.1.

(or l ) out of the page

(or l ) into the page

Fig. 2.1: Representation of magnetic field (or current)

Biot- Savart Law

This law relates the magnetic field intensity dH produced at a point due to a differential current
element

as shown in Fig. 2.2.

Fig. 2.2: Magnetic field intensity due to a current element

The magnetic field intensity

at P can be written as,

............................(2.1a)

..............................................(2.1b)

where

is the distance of the current element from the point P.

Similar to different charge distributions, we can have different current distribution such as line
current, surface current and volume current. These different types of current densities are shown in
Fig. 2.3.

Line

Current

Surface

Current

Fig. 2.3: Different types of current distributions

Volume

Current

By denoting the surface current density as K (in amp/m) and volume current density as J (in amp/m2)
we can write:
......................................(2.2)
( It may be noted that

Employing Biot-Savart Law, we can now express the magnetic field intensity H. In terms of these
current
distributions.

.............................

........................

for

for

line

surface

current............................(2.3a)

current

....................(2.3b)

....................... for volume current......................(2.3c)

To illustrate the application of Biot - Savart's Law, we consider the following example.
Example 2.1: We consider a finite length of a conductor carrying a current placed along z-axis as
shown in the Fig 2.4. We determine the magnetic field at point P due to this current carrying
conductor.

Fig. 2.4: Field at a point P due to a finite length current carrying conductor

With reference to Fig. 2.4, we find that

..........................................(2.4)
Applying Biot - Savart's law for the current element
we can write,

..............................................(2.5)

Substituting
we can write,

..............(2.6)

We find that, for an infinitely long conductor carrying a current I ,

Therefore,

and

.........................................................................................(2.7)

The value of the constant of proportionality 'K' depends upon a property called permeability of
the medium around the conductor. Permeability is represented by symbol 'm' and the
constant 'K' is expressed in terms of 'm' as

Magnetic field 'B' is a vector and unless we give the direction of 'dB', its description is not
complete. Its direction is found to be perpendicular to the plane of 'r' and 'dl'.
If we assign the direction of the current 'I' to the length element 'dl', the vector product dl x r
has magnitude r dl sinq and direction perpendicular to 'r' and 'dl'.

Hence, BiotSavart law can be stated in vector form to give both the magnitude as well as
direction of magnetic field due to a current element as

Value of permeability changes from medium to medium. For ferromagnetic materials it is

much higher than that for other materials. The permeability of free space (vacuum) is denoted
by the symbol 'm0' and its value is 4p x 107 Wb/Am

Ampere's Circuital Law:

(circulation of H )
Ampere's circuital law states that the line integral of the magnetic field
around a closed path is the net current enclosed by this path. Mathematically,

......................................(24.8)
The total current I enc can be written as,

......................................(24.9)
By applying Stoke's theorem, we can write

......................................(2.10)
which is the Ampere's law in the point form.
Applications of Ampere's law:
Example1: We compute magnetic field due to an infinitely long thin current carrying
conductor as shown in Fig. 2.5. Using Ampere's Law, we consider the close path to be a
circle of radius as shown in the Fig. 4.5.

If we consider a small current element

containing both
,i.e.,

and

is perpendicular to the plane

. Therefore only component of

that will be present is

By applying Ampere's law we can write,

......................................(2.11)

Therefore,

which is same as equation (2.7)

Fig. 2.5: Magnetic field due to an infinite thin current carrying conductor
Example 2: We consider the cross section of an infinitely long coaxial conductor, the
inner conductor carrying a current I and outer conductor carrying current - I as shown in
figure 2.6. We compute the magnetic field as a function of as follows:

In the region

......................................(2.12)

............................(2.13)

In the region

......................................(2.14)

Fig. 2.6: Coaxial conductor carrying equal and opposite currents

In the region

......................................(2.15)

........................................(2.16)
In

the

region
......................................(2.17)

Lorentz force
A charged particle at rest will not interact with a static magnetic field. But if the charged
particle is moving in a magnetic field, the magnetic character of a charge in motion becomes
evident. It experiences a deflecting force. The force is greatest when the particle moves in a
direction perpendicular to the magnetic field lines. At other angles, the force is less and
becomes zero when the particles move parallel to the field lines. In any case, the direction of
the force is always perpendicular to the magnetic field lines and to the velocity of the charged
particle.

Magnetic Flux Density

The amount of magnetic flux through a unit area taken perpendicular to the direction of
the magnetic flux. Also called magnetic induction.

Definition Of Ampere
When two current carrying conductors are placed next to each other, we notice that each
induces a force on the other. Each conductor produces a magnetic field around itself (Biot
Savart law) and the second experiences a force that is given by the Lorentz force.

Ampere's Law
The magnetic field in space around an electric current is proportional
to the electric current which serves as its source, just as the electric
field in space is proportional to the charge which serves as its source.
Ampere's law states that for any closed loop path, the sum of the
length elements times the magnetic field in the direction of the length
element is equal to the permeability times the electric current
enclosed in the loop.

Or

In the electric case, the relation of field to source is quantified in Gauss's Law which is a
very powerful tool for calculating electric fields.

Application of Ampere's law:

Ampere's law can be used to calculate 'B' for various current carrying conductor
configurations.

Gauss's Law
Gauss's law for magnetic field This law deals with magnetic flux inside a closed surface and is
equivalent to Gauss's law for electric field discussed in Electric Charge and Electric Field,
connected electric flux j E and electric charge.

And j E = E. A

Similarly, magnetic flux fB can be defined as the number of lines of force crossing a unit area.
Magnetic flux fB = B.A

Since there are no free magnetic charges, the magnetic flux crossing a closed surface will
always be zero. Thus Gauss's law of magnetic field says that the net magnetic flux fB out of any
closed surface is zero.
or B.A = 0

Lenz's law
Soon after Faraday proposed his law of electromagnetic induction, Lenz gave the law
determining the direction of the induced emf.
Lenz's law may be stated as follows:

The direction of the induced current is such as to oppose the cause producing it.
Lenz's law can be compared with the Newton's third law ? every action has equal and opposite
reaction.
When an emf is generated by a change in magnetic flux according to the Faraday's law, the
polarity of the induced emf is such that it produces a current whose magnetic field opposes the
change that produces it. The induced magnetic field inside any loop of wire always acts to keep
the magnetic flux in the loop constant.
In the examples below, if the 'B' field is increasing, the induced field acts in opposition to it. If it
is decreasing, the induced field acts in the direction of the applied field to try to keep it
constant.

Magnetic Flux
Faraday understood that the magnitude of the induced current in a loop was due to the
"amount of magnetic field" passing through the loop.
To visualize this "amount of magnetic field", which is now called the magnetic flux, he
introduced a mental picture of magnetic field as lines of force. This is exactly analogous to
electric flux.
Magnetic flux is the product of the 'B' times the perpendicular area that it penetrates.

The contribution to jB for a given area is equal to the area times the component of magnetic
field perpendicular to the area.
For a closed surface, the sum of magnetic flux is always equal to zero (This is also known as
Gauss's law for magnetic field).
The standard unit for magnetic flux is a weber (Wb), it is the number of magnetic lines of force
(Tesla) crossing a unit area (m2).

Magnetic Flux Density:

In simple matter, the magnetic flux density
where

related to the magnetic field intensity

called the permeability. In particular when we consider the free space

as
where

H/m is the permeability of the free space. Magnetic flux density is measured in terms
of Wb/m 2 .
The magnetic flux density through a surface is given by:

Wb

......................................(2.18)

In the case of electrostatic field, we have seen that if the surface is a closed surface, the net flux
passing through the surface is equal to the charge enclosed by the surface. In case of magnetic field
isolated magnetic charge (i. e. pole) does not exist. Magnetic poles always occur in pair (as N-S).
For example, if we desire to have an isolated magnetic pole by dividing the magnetic bar
successively into two, we end up with pieces each having north (N) and south (S) pole as shown in
Fig. 2.7 (a). This process could be continued until the magnets are of atomic dimensions; still we will
have N-S pair occurring together. This means that the magnetic poles cannot be isolated.

Fig. 2.7: (a) Subdivision of a magnet (b) Magnetic field/ flux lines of a straight current carrying
conductor
Similarly if we consider the field/flux lines of a current carrying conductor as shown in Fig. 2.7 (b), we
find that these lines are closed lines, that is, if we consider a closed surface, the number of flux lines
that would leave the surface would be same as the number of flux lines that would enter the surface.

From our discussions above, it is evident that for magnetic field,

......................................(2.19)
which is the Gauss's law for the magnetic field.
By applying divergence theorem, we can write:

Hence,

......................................(2.20)

which is the Gauss's law for the magnetic field in point form.

Magnetic Scalar and Vector Potentials:

In studying electric field problems, we introduced the concept of electric potential that simplified the computation
of electric fields for certain types of problems. In the same manner let us relate the magnetic field intensity to a
scalar magnetic potential and write:

...................................(2.21)

From Ampere's law , we know that

......................................(2.22)
Therefore,
............................(2.23)

we find that

But using vector identity,

potential is defined only in the region where

is valid only where

. Thus the scalar magnetic

. Moreover, Vm in general is not a single valued function of position.

This point can be illustrated as follows. Let us consider the cross section of a coaxial line as shown
in fig 2.8.
In the region

and

Fig. 2.8: Cross Section of a Coaxial Line

If Vm is the magnetic potential then,

If we set Vm = 0 at

then c=0 and

We observe that as we make a complete lap around the current carrying conductor , we reach
again but Vm this time becomes

We observe that value of Vm keeps changing as we complete additional laps to pass through the
same point. We introduced Vm analogous to electostatic potential V. But for static electric fields,

and

, whereas for steady magnetic field

even if

wherever

but

along the path of integration.

We now introduce the vector magnetic potential which can be used in regions where current
density may be zero or nonzero and the same can be easily extended to time varying cases.
The use of vector magnetic potential provides elegant ways of solving EM field problems.

Since

and we have the vector identity that for any vector

, we can write

.
Here, the vector field

is called the vector magnetic potential. Its SI unit is Wb/m. Thus if can find

of a given current distribution,

can be found from

We have introduced the vector function

through a curl operation.

and related its curl to

in terms of its curl as well as divergence. The choice of

. A vector function is defined fully

is made as follows.

...........................................(2.24)
By using vector identity,

.................................................(2.25)

.........................................(2.26)
Great deal of simplification can be achieved if we choose

Putting
, we get
which is vector poisson equation.
In Cartesian coordinates, the above equation can be written in terms of the components as
......................................(2.27a)

......................................(2.27b)
......................................(2.27c)
The form of all the above equation is same as that of

..........................................(2.28)

for which the solution is

..................(2.29)

In case of time varying fields we shall see that

, which is known as Lorentz condition,

V being the electric potential. Here we are dealing with static magnetic field, so

By comparison, we can write the solution for Ax as

...................................(2.30)
Computing similar solutions for other two components of the vector potential, the vector potential can
be written as

.......................................(2.31)
This equation enables us to find the vector potential at a given point because of a volume current
density

. Similarly for line or surface current density we can write

...................................................(2.32)

. ..............................(2.33)
The magnetic flux

through a given area S is given by

.............................................(2.34)
Substituting

.........................................(2.35)
Vector potential thus have the physical significance that its integral around any closed path is equal
to the magnetic flux passing through that path.

Magnetic Moment In A Magnetic Field

The magnetic moment of an object is a vector relating the aligning torque in a magnetic
field experienced by the object to the field vector itself. The relationship is given by

where
is the torque, measured in newton-meters,
is the magnetic moment, measured in ampere meters-squared, and
is the magnetic field, measured in teslas or, equivalently in newtons per (ampere-meter).

Magnetic Scalar Potential

The magnetic scalar potential is another useful tool in describing the magnetic field around a
current source. It is only defined in regions of space in absence of (but could be near) currents.
The magnetic scalar potential is defined by the equation:

Applying Ampere's Law to the above definition we get:

Since in any continuous field, the curl of a gradient is zero, this would suggest that magnetic
scalar potential fields cannot support any sources. In fact, sources can be supported by applying
discontinuities to the potential field (thus the same point can have two values for points along the
disconuity). These discontinuities are also known as "cuts". When solving magnetostatics
problems using magnetic scalar potential, the source currents must be applied at the
discontinuity.
The magnetic scalar potential is suited to use around lines/loops of currents, but not a region of
space with finite current density. The use of magnetic potential reduces the three components of
to one component
, making computations and algebraic manipulations
the magnetic field
easier. It is often used in magnetostatics, but rarely used in other applications.

Magnetic Vector Potential

The magnetic vector potential
is a three-dimensional vector field whose curl is the
magnetic field in the theory of electromagnetism:

Since the magnetic field is divergence free (i.e.

),

always exists.