Biot-Savart Law

Beginning with a class demo, students are prompted to consider how current generates a magnetic field, and the direction of the field that is generated. Via a lecture, students learn Biot-Savart's law (and work some sample problems) in order to calculate, most simply, the magnetic field produced in the center of a circular current carrying loop. For applications, students find it is necessary to integrate the field produced over all small segments in a current-carrying wire.