When the current us swtiched on through a wire, a compass needle kept nearby gets deflected from its north-south position. Explain.
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Solution
When current is passed through the wire, it deflects the compass near it
from its north-south position like a magnet. This is called magnetic
effect of the current. As we know that needle of the compass is made up
of a thin magnet. When this needle comes in contact with another magnet
then the like poles of the magnet repel each other and opposite poles
attract each other. So the deflection is seen in the needle. In this
case the wire behaves like a magnet and causes deflection in needle of
the compass.