A current filamentation mechanism for breaking magnetic field lines during reconnection

H Che1, J F Drake, M Swisdak

  • 1Center For Integrated Plasma Studies, Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA. haihong.che@colorado.edu

Nature
|June 3, 2011
PubMed

Related Concept Videos

Magnetic Fields01:27

Magnetic Fields

A moving charge or a current creates a magnetic field in the surrounding space, in addition to its electric field. The magnetic field exerts a force on any other moving charge or current that is present in the field. Like an electric field, the magnetic field is also a vector field. At any position, the direction of the magnetic field is defined as the direction in which the north pole of a compass needle points.
A magnetic field is defined by the force that a charged particle experiences...
Magnetic Force Between Two Parallel Currents01:13

Magnetic Force Between Two Parallel Currents

Two long, straight, and parallel current-carrying conductors exert a force of equal magnitude on one another. The direction of the force depends on the current direction in the conductors.
The force exerted by the magnetic field due to the first conductor over a finite length of the second conductor is given as the product of the current in the second conductor and  the vector product of the length vector along the current element and the field due to the first conductor. According to the...
Magnetostatic Boundary Conditions01:28

Magnetostatic Boundary Conditions

An electric field suffers a discontinuity at a surface charge. Similarly, a magnetic field is discontinuous at a surface current. The perpendicular component of a magnetic field is continuous across the interface of two magnetic mediums. In contrast, its parallel component, perpendicular to the current, is discontinuous by the amount equal to the product of the vacuum permeability and the surface current. Like the scalar potential in electrostatics, the vector potential is also continuous...
Magnetic Field Lines01:19

Magnetic Field Lines

The representation of magnetic fields by magnetic field lines is very useful in visualizing the strength and direction of the magnetic field. Each of the magnetic field lines forms a closed loop. The field lines emerge from the north pole (N), loop around to the south pole (S), and continue through the bar magnet back to the north pole.
Magnetic field lines follow several hard-and-fast rules:
Force On A Current Loop In A Magnetic Field01:17

Force On A Current Loop In A Magnetic Field

Magnetic forces on wires carrying current are most frequently applied in motors. A DC motor is a device that converts electrical energy into mechanical work. In motors, wire loops are enclosed in a magnetic field. When current flows through the loops, the magnetic field applies torque, which causes the shaft to rotate. The direction of the current is reversed once the loop's surface area is lined up with the magnetic field, causing a constant torque on the loop. During the process, commutators...
Magnetic Field Of A Current Loop01:16

Magnetic Field Of A Current Loop

Consider a circular loop with a radius a, that carries a current I. The magnetic field due to the current at an arbitrary point P along the axis of the loop can be calculated using the Biot-Savart law.