Question

If two parallel wires have current running in the same direction, do the wires attract each other or repel each other due to their magnetic interaction?

My attempt so far:

I'm imagining two parallel wires oriented vertically with the current flowing "downwards" (in the negative y direction) in each. In this case, I believe there's a circular magnetic field that wraps around and surrounds each respective wire in the clockwise direction (when looking directly downwards at each wire). Can you help me understand how this will impact whether the wires are attracted or repelled to one another? My "intuition" tells me they will repel each other since they have identical fields (like destructive interference in waves) but I don't know that to be a fact.

Thanks for your help!

Answer 1