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GATE 2020 EE Q.55: solution and answer

GATE 2020 · EEQ.55 · 2 marks · NAT

A conducting square loop of side length 1 m is placed at a distance of 1 m from a long straight wire carrying a current A as shown below. The mutual inductance, in nH (rounded off to 2 decimal places), between the conducting loop and the long wire is ________.

GATE 2020 EE question 55: A long straight vertical wire along the z-axis (arrow at the top labelled Z), carrying current I = 2A upward (small upward…Tap to open full size
Figure from the GATE 2020 EE paper. It is part of the question.
Figure description

A long straight vertical wire along the z-axis (arrow at the top labelled Z), carrying current I = 2A upward (small upward arrow beside the wire labelled I=2A). To the right of the wire, in the same plane as the wire, is a square loop. The horizontal distance from the wire to the near (left) side of the square is marked d=1m with a double-headed arrow. The square's width is marked a=1m below it and its height is marked a=1m to its right. The left and right sides of the square are parallel to the wire, so the loop spans distances 1 m to 2 m from the wire.

Answer and solution

ANSWER

The mutual inductance is .

Official answer: 138.10 to 139.20Source: Official answer key, GATE 2020 EE (IIT Delhi)

  1. Field of the wire (Ampere's circuital law): at perpendicular distance from an infinitely long wire carrying current , Over the loop, which lies in the same plane as the wire, is normal to that plane, so is perpendicular to the loop's surface everywhere.

  2. Flux through the loop: split the loop into strips parallel to the wire, each of height and width at distance . depends only on , so it is constant over each strip:

  3. Mutual inductance : the current cancels, so the given does not affect the answer:

  4. Substitute , : , so

  5. Convert to nH: (rounded to 2 decimal places).

KEY IDEA

The wire's field changes only with distance from the wire. Integrate it over the loop in strips parallel to the wire to get . Then depends only on geometry, so the 2 A current is a distractor.

WATCH OUT FOR

Taking at one distance (the near side, the far side or the centre, 1.5 m) and multiplying by the area instead of integrating across . At the centre this gives , outside the key range. The other common slips are multiplying by A, which gives flux rather than inductance, and using where the natural log is needed.

From the GATE 2020 EE paper. Every question of this paper · Download the full paper · All 12 Magnetostatics questions, with notes

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