<p>Can someone please explain the right hand rules to be in layman's terms or direct me to a site/video of where all the right hand rules are explained for Physics B. It's supposed to be a few easy concepts but I never can figure it out.</p>
<p>Just type "right hand rule" in Google Images. You will get alot of results.</p>
<p>I only figured this out a week ago. I don't know why it took me so long. Here's the gist of it.</p>
<p>The direction of your thumb represents the direction of the charged particle (or current), your index figure is the direction of the magnetic field, and your three other fingers (make them perpendicular to your index finger!) represent the direction of the magnetic force. Your usually given the direction of two of these things and you have to find the direction of the third.</p>
<p>Oh, and this represents the direction for a positively charged particle. If you're dealing with a negative charge, use your left hand.</p>
<p>Like this:
<a href="http://www.diracdelta.co.uk/science/source/f/l/flemings%20right%20hand%20rule/image001.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://www.diracdelta.co.uk/science/source/f/l/flemings%20right%20hand%20rule/image001.jpg</a></p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>There are more than one, I use thumb for F, palm for B and fingers for v sometimes</p>
<p>Also, for current in a wire it's easiest to "grip" the wire, with thumb pointing in the direction of current.</p>
<p>^ Yeah, and the direction your fingers curl around the wire represents the direction of the force (it moves in a circle).</p>
<p>Like this:
<a href="http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/aencmed/targets/illus/ilt/000688ea.gif%5B/url%5D">http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/aencmed/targets/illus/ilt/000688ea.gif</a></p>
<p>Hold your right hand out as if you are about to shake someone's hand. Your thumb is the velocity vector for a POSITIVE particle. Your fingers point in the direction of the B (magnetic field). Your palm points in the direction of F (magnetic force).</p>
<p>REMEMBER THAT THIS IS FOR A POSITIVE PARTICLE. If you have a negative particle, you must point in the opposite direction (e.g. a negative charge moving left would have you pointing your thumb right).</p>
<p>thanks so much, you guys! I know that I didn't start this this board, but yeah, I was struggling with the concept and found the posts really helpful. hopefully metsfan09 got it, too. :)</p>
<p>I use
index for v
middle for B field
thumb for Force</p>
<p>"REMEMBER THAT THIS IS FOR A POSITIVE PARTICLE. If you have a negative particle, you must point in the opposite direction (e.g. a negative charge moving left would have you pointing your thumb right)."</p>
<p>If it's a negative particle you can also use what is called "the LEFT hand rule"</p>
<p>@AznPwyd</p>
<p>Yeah that works too.</p>
<p>Ok for hte right hand rule I use my thumb as the force, my index as v, and my other 3 fingers perp to my index as B.</p>
<p>What would I change for a negative particle?</p>
<p>Just use your left hand for a negative particle.</p>
<p>From middle finger to thumb - B I F</p>
<p>uggghhh this is so helpful!!!! i have SUCH a hard time w. rhr especially if the v is 4 a negative particle! so u CAN use ur left hand in that case?</p>
<p>JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP!!!</p>
<p>"i flash the right hand rule like it's my gang sign"....</p>
<p>hahaha LOL=)</p>
<p>Just use your left hand for a negative particle</p>
<p>So everything just stays the same except its my left hand? Ok cool.</p>
<p>actually.. i wouldn't suggest using your left hand. it's just more confusing and you're more likely to make mistakes lol. but yeah, it does work. just make sure everytime they say electron that you like underline or circle it or something so that you willl remember. </p>
<p>so your thumb goes in direction of velocity, your fingertips are in the direction of the magnetic field and your palm is the direction of the force. or instead of using your palm you can like bend your fingers so they are like perpendicular to where your magnetic field is. hahha :)</p>
<p>for wires, your thumb goes in the direction of the current and you curl your fingers around the wire as if you were holding it. so yeah the magnetic field will be in different directions at different points of the wire. </p>
<p>to find the direction of the induced current when there is a magnetic flux, you use Lenz's law which is confusing as hell. lol so basically if the magnetic flux increases upwards, then you have to like negate the flux so you point your thumb downwards and curl your fingers and yeah look at the direcitno of your fingers and it's... clockwise! </p>
<p>lol hope this helped. i dont usually write long ranting posts but i remember how confusing this was to me when our class was doing E&M so hopefully this will help some people (: best of luck!</p>
<p>the thing i dont understand is the induced current when there is a magnetic flux (lenz's law)
i sort of get what dearsky was saying but can anyone else elaborate a little more on that or give another example?</p>
<p>Okay another example. Let's do motional emf. :]</p>
<p>Hahaha so you know the typical picture of a bar sliding to the right ... uhhh here's a picture: <a href="http://img.sparknotes.com/content/testprep/bookimgs/sat2/physics/0003/barmoving.gif%5B/url%5D">http://img.sparknotes.com/content/testprep/bookimgs/sat2/physics/0003/barmoving.gif</a></p>
<p>okay so since the bar is moving to the right, then the magnetic flux will increase since there is a greater area. magnetic flux is BA cos theta ... so yeah since the area increases, so will the magnetic flux. from the picture, you can see that the magnetic field is directed into the page, so with the increasing flux, it will increase into the page. to "negate" it, you need to have a force (kinda) that goes out of the page right? so point your thumb out of the page, and curl your fingers. therefore, the induced current is counterclockwise! hooray! (:</p>
<p>oh yeah, and ignore the current motion in the picture. we're assuming that the direction of current is what we want to find lol</p>
<p>
[quote]
okay so since the bar is moving to the right, then the magnetic flux will increase since there is a greater area. magnetic flux is BA cos theta ... so yeah since the area increases, so will the magnetic flux. from the picture, you can see that the magnetic field is directed into the page, so with the increasing flux, it will increase into the page. to "negate" it, you need to have a **force<a href="kinda">/B</a> that goes out of the page right? so point your thumb out of the page, and curl your fingers. therefore, the induced current is counterclockwise! hooray!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Everything you said is correct except for the part I bolded. The word "force" should be "magnetic field".</p>