When a wire carrying an electric current is placed in a magnetic field, each of the moving charges experiences the "Lorentz force". Together the force on each charge of the current creates a macroscopic force on the wire. The following equation results in the case of a straight, stationary wire and perpendicular magnetic field lines:
`F = I * L` X `B`, where the cross product `(I * L)` X `B =`
`I * L * B * sin(Theta)`, and `Theta` is the angle between the current's velocity vector and the magnetic field lines.
More generally, the net force on a stationary, rigid wire carrying a steady current, I, is:
`F = I int` dL X `B`