2 research outputs found
Relativistic length agony continued
An attempt is made to remedy confusing treatments of some basic relativistic
concepts and results in recent papers by Franklin (2010 {\it Eur. J. Phys.}
{\bf 31} 291-8) and by McGlynn and van Kampen (2008 {\it Eur. J. Phys.} {\bf
29} N63-N67). The authors' misconceptions are recurrent points in the
literature
Charges and fields in a current-carrying wire
Charges and fields in a straight, infinite, cylindrical wire carrying a
steady current are determined in the rest frames of ions and electrons,
starting from the standard assumption that the net charge per unit length is
zero in the lattice frame and taking into account a self-induced pinch effect.
The analysis presented illustrates the mutual consistency of classical
electromagnetism and Special Relativity. Some consequences of the assumption
that the net charge per unit length is zero in the electrons frame are also
briefly discussed