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The magnetic field produced at a focus of a

current-carrying conductor in the shape of a
conic section

Article in American Journal of Physics December 2009

DOI: 10.1119/1.3183888

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Costas Christodoulides
National Technical University of Athens
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NOTES AND DISCUSSIONS

The magnetic field produced at a focus of a current-carrying conductor

in the shape of a conic section
C. Christodoulidesa
Department of Physics, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Technical University
of Athens, Zografou, GR 157 80 Athens, Greece
Received 21 June 2009; accepted 30 June 2009
We determine the magnetic field at the focus of a conic section due to a current along the conic
section. For a given current I, it is shown that this magnetic field is the same and equal to 0I / 2p
for all conics with the same semilatus rectum p. 2009 American Association of Physics Teachers.
DOI: 10.1119/1.3183888

I. INTRODUCTION dr
= e 4
The calculation of magnetic fields in textbooks using the d
BiotSavart law is limited mainly to current-currying con- is the unit vector in the direction of increasing . Therefore
ductors consisting of linear or circular sections. In rare cases
the field at the focus of a current-carrying elliptical or para- dr p
bolic conductor is calculated.1 Recently the field of a more r = r e 5
general plane current loop was considered.2 The purpose of d 1 + e cos
this paper is to demonstrate an interesting common property or
of conic sections regarding the magnetic field produced at
one of the foci of a current-carrying conic section. dr p
r = z , 6
d 1 + e cos

II. ANALYSIS where z = r e is the unit vector normal to both r and e,

and is out of the plane of the curve in Fig. 1.
We consider a current-carrying conductor in the shape of a Equations 2 and 6 and the definition r = rr give

conic section a circle, ellipse, parabola, or hyperbola. Polar 2
coordinates r , are used to describe the curves, with a r
dr
=
p
z 7
focus of the conic section taken to be the origin O, and the d 1 + e cos
axis of symmetry of the curve coinciding with the polar axis
see Fig. 1. There is a constant current I in the conductor in so that the ratio in Eq. 1 becomes

the direction of increasing . A current element Idr with
position vector r relative to O produces a magnetic field dB r dr 1 e
= + cos dz . 8
at O, which is given by the BiotSavart law as r3 p p
0I r dr The total magnetic field at O for a circle, ellipse, or pa-
dB = . 1 rabola is found by integrating Eq. 1 from = to
4 r3
For the geometry and current in Fig. 1, the direction of dB is
normal to the plane of the figure and outward.
In polar coordinates the general equation of conic sections
position vector of a point on the curve is3
p
r= r , 2
1 + e cos
where r is a unit vector from O to the current element, the
length p is the semilatus rectum of the conic, and e is its
eccentricity e = 0 for a circle, 0 e 1 for an ellipse, e = 1
for a parabola, and e 1 for the left branch of a hyperbola.
If we differentiate r with respect to , we obtain
dr pe sin p dr
=
2r + . 3
d 1 + e cos 1 + e cos d
Fig. 1. A current element Idr on a conic section and the magnetic field dB
The quantity it produces at O, the focus of the curve.

1195 Am. J. Phys. 77 12, December 2009 http://aapt.org/ajp 2009 American Association of Physics Teachers 1195
 Fig. 2. The two branches of a hyperbola.
Fig. 3. Conic sections with a common focus O and the same value of the
latus rectum 2p.

B=
0I
4
z


1 e
p p

+ cos d . 9
p
If instead of the equation of a conic such as that in Eq. 2, r= r 14
we had used the general form e cos 1

r = rr 10 for 0 0.
for a curve in plane polar coordinates, Eq. 9 would have the For the current direction shown in Fig. 2, the magnetic
more general form field produced at O by the right branch of the hyperbola is

B=
0I
4
z d
r
, 11 B = 2
0I
4
z
0
0

1 e

+ cos d
p p
derived in Ref. 2. We perform the integration in Eq. 9 and
0I
obtain = 0 e sin 0z . 15
2 p
0I
B= z 12 The total magnetic field produced by a hyperbolic conduc-
2p
tor at its focus is therefore
for a circle, ellipse, or parabola.
The hyperbola has to be treated separately because it has 0I
two branches between its two asymptotes, which form angles B = B+ + B = z , 16
2p
of 0 and 0 with its axis of symmetry see Fig. 2. The
value of 0 is given by cos 0 = 1 / e because this value of
the same as for the other conic sections. The field at the
cos makes r infinite. The field produced by the left branch
right-hand focus of the hyperbola is also given by Eq. 16.
of the hyperbola is

We conclude that conic sections with the same semilatus
0
0I 1 e 0I rectum p, carrying the same current I, produce the same
B+ = 2 z + cos d = 0 + e sin 0z . magnetic field 0I / 2p at their foci. A group of such conic
4 0 p p 2 p
sections is shown in Fig. 3 with their common focus at O.
13
Equation 2 produces negative values of r for 0 a
Electronic mail: cchrist@central.ntua.gr
2 0. We can keep r positive if we change the sign of 1
J. D. Kraus, Electromagnetics, 4th ed. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1991,
the right-hand side of Eq. 2 and can limit to the range 2
Problems 6-3-10 and 6-3-12.
J. A. Miranda, Magnetic field calculation for arbitrarily shaped planar
0 0 for the right branch of the hyperbola if
wires, Am. J. Phys. 683, 254258 2000.
we write cos instead of cos in Eq. 2. The right 3
M. R. Spiegel, Mathematical Handbook of Formulas and Tables
branch of the hyperbola is then given by McGraw-Hill, New York, 1968, pp. 3739.

1196 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 77, No. 12, December 2009 Notes and Discussions 1196