2.II.17B

Electromagnetism
Part IB, 2008

Two perfectly conducting rails are placed on the xyx y-plane, one coincident with the xx-axis, starting at (0,0)(0,0), the other parallel to the first rail a distance \ell apart, starting at (0,)(0, \ell). A resistor RR is connected across the rails between (0,0)(0,0) and (0,)(0, \ell), and a uniform magnetic field B=Be^z\mathbf{B}=B \hat{\mathbf{e}}_{z}, where e^z\hat{\mathbf{e}}_{z} is the unit vector along the zz-axis and B>0B>0, fills the entire region of space. A metal bar of negligible resistance and mass mm slides without friction on the two rails, lying perpendicular to both of them in such a way that it closes the circuit formed by the rails and the resistor. The bar moves with speed vv to the right such that the area of the loop becomes larger with time.

(i) Calculate the current in the resistor and indicate its direction of flow in a diagram of the system.

(ii) Show that the magnetic force on the bar is

F=B22vRe^x\mathbf{F}=-\frac{B^{2} \ell^{2} v}{R} \hat{\mathbf{e}}_{x}

(iii) Assume that the bar starts moving with initial speed v0v_{0} at time t=0t=0, and is then left to slide freely. Using your result from part (ii) and Newton's laws show that its velocity at the time tt is

v(t)=v0e(B22/mR)t.v(t)=v_{0} e^{-\left(B^{2} \ell^{2} / m R\right) t} .

(iv) By calculating the total energy delivered to the resistor, verify that energy is conserved.