Oersted’s Experiment: How Electricity Creates Magnetism - Classic Physics Demonstration #2115396 (License: Personal Use)

This 19th-century line drawing depicts Hans Christian Oersted’s pivotal 1820 experiment where a compass needle aligns perpendicularly to a current-carrying wire connected to a voltaic pile (battery), demonstrating that electric current produces a circular magnetic field. The dotted lines indicate the magnetic field direction (right-hand rule), with labeled north (N) and south (S) poles showing deflection. The hands holding the wire emphasize the experimental setup used to observe electromagnetic induction for the first time.

Used in educational physics content-textbooks, museum exhibits, or science history articles-to explain the foundational discovery of electromagnetism. Matches user intent seeking historical scientific experiments, STEM teaching resources, or visual aids for understanding magnetic fields from currents.