jowey

Dont have the math background or the funds / developed experimental skill set to go to the physics forums - the "over the head" response

Surfing the fields and flares....just watch where you are going.

Curious - apply an electrostatic charge to a ball, spin it.
Would it generate a magnetic field along the axis of spin ?
What happens to the static electric field ?
Would centripetal force affect the field ?

Musings ....

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Heretic

Since electrons are so small relative to protons and neutrons they're assumed to be massless, so it's safe to say that centripital force won't affect them. But as it pertains to current and magnetic fields there's the "Right Hand Rule" where you hold up your hand with the thumb up and the other fingers curled. The thumb represents the electrical current and the other fingers are the magnetic field induced by the current [inductance].

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"Enough!!" -so rang Barack Obama's voice off the walls of Mile High Stadium

jowey

Yes, "Right Hand Rule"....
Static electrical charge on the surface of spinning sphere, negative charge (electrons). The effect of positive charge (protons/nucleus) whose mass is in the structure.

Does the charge move generating current, per "Right Hand Rule" ? Does the magnetic field concentrate the charge around the equator ?

Does the charge and field remain stationary as the sphere spins ?

Doesnt help identify what the field is ? Just musings.....

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Heretic

The spinning sphere has to be spinning against either in opposition to another spinning conductor or that conductor has to be stationary. That's how you get charges to move and that, by extension, builds up a magnetic fields. This is important in planets, because a metalic core is required for a metalic field to shield that planet from charged particles and certain radiation [alpha and beta radiation]. So we can see how the field is created, but not what compses that field specifically.

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"Enough!!" -so rang Barack Obama's voice off the walls of Mile High Stadium

jowey

Yes, the planets with magnetic fields have a liquid metallic cores that create the magnetic fields.

I was curious about the static electric field because of the observations of the magnetic fields breaking and collapsing - could that phenomenon occur with a static electric field ?

Another musing was with Nuclear Fusion, brought about by Robert Bussard's Polywell concept http://www.strout.net/info/science/polywell/ could an electrical discharge occur through a magnetic field ? What would the effect of the magnetic field be on the discharge and the field surrounding the discharge ? Could the discharge through the appropriate material result in fusion ?

Musings.....

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Heretic

It has to be from moving charges [current].

Actually, his approach of suspending material in a magnetic field isn't unique. The fusion lab at Los Alimos, I believe, does that to a degree. But the thing with using any energy form involved only how much. The only shortcuts are finding matching frequencies, even if through the use of sound.

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"Enough!!" -so rang Barack Obama's voice off the walls of Mile High Stadium

jowey

Yes, given that the axis and magnetic poles are "nearly" the same I have assumed that the molten mostly iron core generated the current - rotation, convection and turbulence.

They are building a Tokamak in France which uses magnetic confinement to squeeze the suspended plasma. Bussard's Polywell sounds like an interesting solution - reading on it made me consider what would happen if a discharge occurred between two charged electrodes occurred inside a magnetic tube.

When the discharge occurs the ions/plasma should generate a magnetic field (right hand rule), if that was inside another magnetic field (the tube). As the velocity increases the field should also increase which would interact with the tubes magnetic field. Would it compress the ions/plasma ? A discharge can generated high temperatures and pressures. If the material providing the discharge medium is fusible......

..... I assume that this would not work, magnetic field squashes the discharge ...... it is a musing.

Back to electric / magnetic fields they may be a manifestation of n-dimensional space. Sadly lacking in the math to follow the implications of these theories and how they apply to my silly questions......
http://www.people.cs.uchicago.edu/~m...imensions.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calabi-Yau_manifold

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