Magnetic Fields and Forces Practice Problems

AP Physics

Name:
Period:

1. When ends of two permanent bar magnets are near each other, the two magnets attract each other. What
does this tell you about the ends of the two magnets? Be as specific as you can.
2. What will a compass do when placed in a magnetic field that points to the west? Which way will it line up?
Why?
3. If you look directly at the South pole end of a bar magnet, which way would you see the magnetic field
pointing if you could see magnetic fields? Explain.
4. You have two identical iron bars, one of which is a bar magnet while the other is unmagnetized. How could
you tell which bar is which, using only the two bars?
5. List the key similarities and difference between electric and magnetic forces:
6. Can a stable magnetic field set a stationary electron in motion? If so, how?
7. A proton that is moving vertically upward through a uniform magnetic field gets deflected to the east as you
watch it. What is the direction of the magnetic field?
8. If a negatively charged particle were moving northward, which way would you orient the magnetic field in
order to deflect the particle to east (at first)?
9. An electron moving due east passes through a magnetic field without being deflected. What do you conclude
about the direction of the magnetic field?
10. You want to deflect a positively charged particle so that it follows the path shown in the
figure.
a) How could you accomplish this feat using only magnetic fields? Specifically, how would you
have to set up the fields to make it happen?
b) How would the velocity of the particle at the end of the path compare to the velocity of the
particle at the beginning of the path?
11. A 0.25 C positive charge moves to the south at a speed of 200 m/s and enters a region of uniform magnetic
field. It experiences a force of 20 N down. What is the magnetic field (vector)?
12. A charge of 0.050 C moves downward in a field of 0.080 T oriented to the north.
a) What direction will the force on the charge point?
b) How fast does the charge have to go to experience a 10 N magnetic force?

13. A magnetic field can be used to determine

B
which type of charges are actually moving
inside a conductive material. You can tell by
q
measuring a voltage between one edge of the
conductor and the other. This is known as the
Hall Effect.
For simplicity, consider a wide strip of
conductor laid flat on a table top and running
east-west through an upward pointing
magnetic field. Using a simple wire wouldnt
change anything, but would make it harder to
visualize.
i) Consider a positively charged particle moving through the conductor as shown in the diagram.
a) How will the magnetic field affect that particle as it moves through the conductor?
b) Where will the particle go?
c) What would it look like if there were a lot of positive charges moving the same way at the same time?
ii) Now consider a negatively charged particle moving the opposite direction through the conductor.
Remember that this looks identical electrically.
a) How will the magnetic field affect that particle as it moves through the conductor?
b) Where will the particle go?
c) What would it look like if there were a lot of positive charges moving the same way at the same time?
iii) How are the two situations different? Could you use this effect to determine which type of charge was
actually moving? If so, how?
15. An electron travels at a uniform speed of 3.0 x 106 m/s to the east. If then enters a uniform magnetic field
and experiences a maximum force of 5.0 x 10-19 N. What is the magnetic field (vector)?
16. An electron travels at a velocity of 2,000 m/s through a uniform magnetic field that is 1.2 mT northward.
a) What is the magnetic force if the electron is traveling to the east?
b) What is the magnetic force is the electron is traveling to the northeast?
c) What is the magnetic force if the electron is traveling 60 N of E?
17. A horizontal proton beam in a particle accelerator is accelerated to a speed of 3.0 x 105 m/s and aimed to the
west. The beam enters a uniform magnetic field of 0.50 T oriented at an angle of 37 U of W.
a) What is the magnetic force on one proton in the beam?
b) How much would one proton in the beam accelerate?
c) If you replaced the protons in the beam with electrons, how would that change the magnetic force on a single
particle?
18. Why can a nearby magnet distort the display of a CRT (cathode ray tube) computer monitor or television?