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May I know if we have a current flowing through a wire, and the wire is between two strong magnets. The wire would experience a force called the Lorentz Force given by F = IxB, or F equals I cross B. Based on Newton's third law of motion, will the magnets also feel a force in the opposite direction of the wire?

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In this case the wire is feeling a downward force. But by Newton's third law of motion will the magnetic around it feel an upward force?

Chien Hao Tan
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1 Answers1

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Force exerted by magnets onto objects can appear at first to not obey Newton's third law because the objects don't directly interact with each other and instead create fields that interact with each other. Those fields do carry some amount of momentum which is what is decreased when the field exerts forces on objects inside of itself which balances Newton's third law for electrodynamics.

Ethan
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