The Field Goes Round the Wire

You'll learnwhich way a wire's magnetic field points, what two parallel currents do to each other, and how to add two fields at one point.

Two wires side by side, each carrying a current. The field of one wraps around it, reaches the other, and the two wires pull together. Twelve short steps; press Next for each one.

12 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · THE FIELD CIRCLES · PARALLEL ATTRACT · ADD AS VECTORS · v2

B circles the wire · parallel currents attract · add as vectors

Before you start

What you're looking at

Two wires carrying currents up the page. Blue circles: the left wire's magnetic field. A circled dot or cross: field out of, or into, the screen.

The question

Which way does the field point, and what do two currents do?

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