34. The drawing shows a straight wire carrying a current I. Above the wire is a rectangular loop that contains a resistor R. If the current I is decreasing in time, what is the direction of the induced current through the resistor R—left-to-right or right-to-left?

With the current flowing as shown using the right hand rule, the magnetic field goes into the paper through the loop as shown below.

If the current is decreasing the magnetic field strength in the loop with the resister is decreasing. Therefore the magnetic flux through the loop is decreasing. To maintain constant magnetic flux, he current in the loop must also create a magnetic field that goes into the paper in the loop, so the current must be passing through the resistor from left to right!

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This page last updated on June 25, 2018