Question

the force that a magnetic field exerts on a current is always perpendicular to
(A) Field
(B) Velocity
(C) Current
(D) All of the above

Answer 1

Hint: A current carrying conductor placed in a magnetic field experiences a magnetic force. So, a force exists. The origin of the magnetic force has its role in the movement of charges. Since, the flow of current is due to the motion of charged particles that are electrons. If there is no motion of the charged particle then there will be no force.

Complete step by step solution:
A current carrying conductor in a region of magnetic field, B experiences a force F given by: \[\overrightarrow{F}=I(\overrightarrow{L}\times \overrightarrow{B})\]
Force is given as the cross product of the length of the conductor and the field. We know from the concept of vector product, if \[\overrightarrow{R}=\overrightarrow{A}\times \overrightarrow{B}\], then vector R is perpendicular to both vector A and vector B.
Thus, the force is perpendicular to both the length of the conductor and the field.

So, the correct option is (A)

Note: Vectors can be multiplied by using two ways: one is dot product or scalar product and the other is vector product or cross product. The scalar product results give scalar while the vector product gives result a vector quantity. Also, in case of cross product the resultant vector is perpendicular to both the initial vectors.
While taking either dot product or cross product we have to keep in mind we have to take the angle between the two original vectors.