Right-hand rule

DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyz to 196@lemmy.blahaj.zone – 93 points –
Right-hand rule - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
9

Proctoring a physics 1 exam and seeing students do both these and curling their fingers around (thumb in direction of current, curl fingers around direction of magnetic field) was always very humerous to see.

I was totally unable to understand that. As simple as it is. Got my physics minor basically getting every single rhr question wrong. Don't know how I managed it

I hated the hand thing. Instead I remembered it working like the polarity of the "tan" function since that was easy for me to picture.

a = 1 finger

b = 1 finger

a x b = 1 x 1 = 1 thumb

checks out 🤓

Also applicable in a modified way in biology, useful for keying snails

That's kind of rude, then they'll have to get their house repainted

Tbh I never understood this rule very well and I did my undergrad in physics. My teacher or prof would teach this but I'd forget it almost instantly.

To visualize a cross product, I just remember that x cross y = z, then remember how the axes are oriented.