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Magnetic and electric constant relation special relativity

Physics Asked by user132849 on May 4, 2021

For the first time I am trying to derive by myself the general relation between the magnetic and electric constants as shown in the following:

$$ F = frac{k_E q_1 q_2}{r^2} hspace{2mm} , hspace{2mm} F = frac{k_M I_1 I_2}{r} $$

To do this, I am considering a thought experiment where I have two lines of moving charges spaced from one another by a distance $r$ with charge densities $lambda_1$ and $lambda_2$ and moving with velocity $v$ in the $x$ direction such that the corresponding currents are $I_1$ and $I_2$. Using $I_k = lambda_k v$, I calculate the total force between the wires in the rest frame as (positive pulling the wires together):

$$ F = frac{k_M lambda_1 lambda_2 v^2}{r} – frac{2k_E lambda_1 lambda_2}{r} $$

Then I consider a frame in which the observer is moving at the same velocity as the charges in the wires so that there is no current. I then, using $lambda_k^{‘} = gamma lambda_k$, I calculate the force in the moving frame as:

$$ F’ = -frac{2k_E lambda_1 lambda_2 gamma^2}{r} $$

And since the force is perpendicular to the velocity, we should have that $F = F’$. My problem is that when I set these equal to one another, I find that I don’t get the nice relation that I have seen elsewhere ($c^2 k_M = 2k_E$). I have noticed that if I instead have:

$$F’ = -frac{2k_E lambda_1 lambda_2}{gamma^2 r} $$

Then I get the correct result. However, I don’t see why that would be the case, as I believe my charge density transformation to be correct. Can anyone help me find where I have gone wrong? Thanks in advance!

One Answer

A possible error in your calculations is that you wrote $lambda_k^{'} = gamma lambda_k$, whereas you had better write $lambda_k^{'} = alpha lambda_k$, where $alpha=1/gamma$. If $lambda_k$ is the charge density of the moving charges/wire, the distances between the charges are Lorentz contracted and the density is great. Moreover, from the viewpoint of an observer who is at rest WRT the charges, the length between the charges is the proper length, which is greater than the Lorentz contracted one, and thus the density reduces.

Correct answer by Mohammad Javanshiry on May 4, 2021

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