Submitted by David S. Hall
on Tuesday, 10/20/2009, at 8:20 PM
Q. Using the right hand rule, it seems as though the force would be upwards, but would that then cause the bar to move to the right since current is moving towards the right?
A. The only part of the system that is free to move is the bar at the rightmost end. In which direction is the current through that bar? Then, in which direction is dF = I dl x B for the bar?