Question

The deflection of the compass needle placed near a current-carrying wire is observed to be:

Options

• directed radially inward toward the wire

• tangential to imaginary circles around the wire

• perpendicular to the wire but not to the circles

• parallel to the wire

Answer 1

The deflection is tangential to imaginary circles around the wire. This shows that the magnetic field at any point near the conductor acts along the tangent of the circular field lines centred on the wire.