Fleming's left hand rule

This is very important skill in the electromagnetism topic.

What on earth is electromagnetism? Well, if you look at the word you can probably guess. It's when you use electricity to generate a magnetic field. Electricity creates a magnetic field? Yes it does! This is what Faraday is so famous for!

Fleming's left hand rule

Remember to use your LEFT hand for this or you'll be wrong.

Get out your left hand and make it look like the picture on the left. If you're confused, stick your thumb up and your index finger out, making a gun, and then stick your middle finger to your right. Stick your middle finger up at the wall (what has the wall ever done to you) and then shoot it with an imaginary gun made by your fingers (don't do this to your Physics teacher okay). If that doesn't make sense then make a gun and then stick your middle finger out to your right.

The Thumb represents the movement of the wire. This is usually what you'll be using the left hand rule to find out. The first finger or index finger represents magnetic field. Point this finger in the direction of the magnetic field, keeping in mind that the magnetic field runs from north to south. The third finger or middle finger represents current. Point this in the direction that the current travels in, keeping in mind that current travels from + to -

Have a look at this situation. Which way will the wire in the magnetic field move when the circuit is turned on? Get out your left hand, it's time to figure this out! Index finger is magnetic field, so point your index finger down. Look at the circuit, where are the + and -? Current will run from + to - so the current is running 'towards' us so point your middle finger towards you. Where is your thumb pointing? If you got this right then your thumb should be pointing to the right.

Looks like we were right! If you want to practice your use of Fleming's left hand rule more then go here to get a simulator

Fleming's left hand rule practice

This simulator is really good so make use of it!

I hope this was useful! I will be posting again later on motors, the awesome real life use of electromagnetism!

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