Numerical answer
A long wire carrying a current is bent into a hairpin: two straight parallel semi-infinite sections, separated by with , are joined at their near ends by a semicircular arc of radius . Each straight section is tangent to the end of the arc and lies along a line at perpendicular distance from the centre of the arc. The magnitude of the magnetic field at , in microtesla, is ______. Use and give the answer correct to two decimal places.
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Answer: 25.71
Take the current to enter along one straight section, traverse the semicircle and leave along the other. For the arc, the Biot-Savart law gives at the centre. Each semi-infinite straight wire ends at the foot of the perpendicular from , so . By the right-hand rule all three contributions point in the same direction (perpendicular to the plane), so . Numerically, , and multiplying by gives . The semi-infinite result follows from the finite-wire formula with angle limits and , which is why each straight arm gives half of the infinite-wire value.
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