Saturday, March 30, 2019

Why don't loop currents produce light?


If a charge travels in a circle it must accelerate, thereby producing EM. However, a wire in a circular loop is analogous to many charges moving in a circle. So, why don't circular currents produce EM? (I have not found any evidence that circular currents can produce EM).


A similar question is: Why doesn't alternating current produce light while a vibrating single particle with a charge will. However, my question asks about circular wires and direct current. Thanks.



Answer



Circular currents do produce EM, and indeed this is exactly how X-rays are produced by synchotrons such as the (sadly now defunct) synchotron radiation source at Daresbury. In this case the current is flowing in a vacuum not in a wire, but the principle is the same.



Current flowing in loops of wire don't produce radiation in everyday life because the acceleration is so small. The electrons are moving at the drift velocity, which is only around a metre per second, so the amount of radiation released is immeasurably small. Synchotrons produce radiation because the electrons are moving at almost the speed of light.


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