Question

A flexible wire of irregular shape, abcd, as shown in the figure, turns into a circular shape when placed in a region of magnetic field which is directed normal to the plane of the loop away from the reader. Predict the direction of the induced current in the wire.

Answer 1

The wire is expanding to form a circle, which means that force is acting outwards on each part of the wire because of the magnetic field (acting in the downwards direction). The direction of the induced current should be such that it will produce magnetic field in upward direction (towards the reader). Hence, the force on the wire will be towards inward direction, i.e., induced current is flowing in anticlockwise direction in the loop from c-b-a-d-c.