I know it’s kind of a stupid question, but I have been thinking this for a while. Do magnets affect the electricity itself that flows inside a wire? For example, say I am charging my phone and it’s connected to a wall socket. If I placed a magnet in the middle of my charger wire (like literally on top of the wire) would the magnet stop the electricity from flowing since it’s getting attracted to the magnet? Would it have any effect at all on the flow of electrons inside the wire?
In: Physics
There *is* a slight effect. A magnetic field wants to pull moving electrons onto a circular trajectory, but in a wire, they cannot really move anywhere except straight ahead. So there might be a slight increase in resistance from all the electrons being pulled to one side of the wire. However, for any magnetic field you could realistically create, the effect is going to be so small you will probably be unable to measure it.
The only meaningful interaction, as others have noted, is electromagnetic induction, which only happens if the electric current or the magnetic field are *changing* quickly. This may cause magnetism to have a significant influence, for example in transformers or motors or in the skin effect, which limits the frequency range a cable can conduct.
But no magnet will suck up your electrons.
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