Re: [Phys-L] Lenz's law

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

Hi --

I would emphasize the "voltage equals flux dot" law before
going anywhere near Lenz's law.

The former is quantitative and is a direct corollary of the
Maxwell equations. It has thousands of quantitative as well
as qualitative applications.

This stands in contrast to Lenz's law, which is merely
qualitative.

When applied to a perfectly or near-perfectly conducting loop,
it makes it obvious why the sign of Lenz's law has to be as
it is.

There is a wonderful hands-on demo you can do to illustrate
this, if you have a big powerful magnet available.

I added whole new section of my writeup, talking about this
and outlining where it comes from. Maxwell equations plus
Stokes's theorem.

https://www.av8n.com/physics/straight-wire.htm#sec-flux-dot

It's very new so there are probably typos and such. Possibly
missing steps in the argument. Let me know if you have questions
or suggestions.