Right-hand Rule - Applications

Applications

The first form of the rule is used to determine the direction of the cross product of two vectors. This leads to widespread use in physics, wherever the cross product occurs. A list of physical quantities whose directions are related by the right-hand rule is given below. (Some of these are related only indirectly to cross products, and use the second form.)

• The angular velocity of a rotating object and the rotational velocity of any point on the object
• A torque, the force that causes it, and the position of the point of application of the force
• A magnetic field, the position of the point where it is determined, and the electric current (or change in electric flux) that causes it
• A magnetic field in a coil of wire and the electric current in the wire
• The force of a magnetic field on a charged particle, the magnetic field itself, and the velocity of the object
• The vorticity at any point in the field of flow of a fluid
• The induced current from motion in a magnetic field (known as Fleming's right-hand rule)
• The x, y and z unit vectors in a Cartesian coordinate system can be chosen to follow the right-hand rule. Right-handed coordinate systems are often used in rigid body physics and kinematics.

Fleming's left-hand rule is a rule for finding the direction of the thrust on a conductor carrying a current in a magnetic field.