Rigorous quantitative test of Biot–Savart–Lorentz forces

Abstract

The present paper describes an experiment performed at the National Technical University of Athens, comparing the theoretical Biot–Savart–Lorentz forces with the experimentally measured forces which arise on a part of a single circuit. The comparison is decisive and unique, as it is made for the first time after (1) the elimination of the singular or undetermined forces which inevitably arise in such experiments at the contacts of interacting parts, and (2) a complete systematic error elimination in the measurements themselves. The results, therefore, (a) for the first time treat noncontact forces, (b) are free of the ambiguities which have undermined previous experiments, and (c) indicate that the exerted forces are systematically smaller than the predicted Biot–Savart–Lorentz forces.