Quote:
Originally Posted by Nesti
Is there a particular reason why the Right Hand Rule exists...
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If the question were "why does a magnetic field obey the right-hand rule,
rather than a left-hand rule, when a current flows through a conductor?", then as
the previous two respondents have noted it is a convention
and because
most Electrical Engineers, including the one that formulated the right-hand
convention in the first place, are right-handed. (Though I personally know some
who are left-handed and still managed to graduate).
In other words, there is nothing "magical" about the handiness.
The relationship between an electric current and a magnetic field (i.e.
electromagnetism) was originally put forward by Ampère but it took Maxwell to
formulate in terms of field equations.