- #1
pattiecake
- 64
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An electron is moving in the plane of a page in my physics textbook up towards the top. What do you know? A magnetic field is also in the plane of the page, directed towards the right. What is the direction of the magnetic force on the electron?
According to the right hand rule, the magnetic field should point IN to the page. However, the correct answer is OUT of the page? Why? Does it have something to do with the particle being an electron?
Also, I'm not quite clear on how a magnetic FORCE can act in a direction other than the same direction the magnetic FIELD is acting in? Gravitational and electric fields act in the same direction as their force! I thought the direction of fields and forces were inseperable--two and the same--and I'm not sure why it differs with magnetic fields, and more so, what does the fact that they operate in different directions MEAN anyways, in laymens terms?
According to the right hand rule, the magnetic field should point IN to the page. However, the correct answer is OUT of the page? Why? Does it have something to do with the particle being an electron?
Also, I'm not quite clear on how a magnetic FORCE can act in a direction other than the same direction the magnetic FIELD is acting in? Gravitational and electric fields act in the same direction as their force! I thought the direction of fields and forces were inseperable--two and the same--and I'm not sure why it differs with magnetic fields, and more so, what does the fact that they operate in different directions MEAN anyways, in laymens terms?