# Can we understand a moving charge as a dipole?

I work as a physics teacher at a high school and I have to explain these days the magnetic field of a curreny carrying wire. Of course I may just give the formulae and describe how the field $$\vec{B}$$ looks like. However, I would like to give a bit of insight to them on the physics behind this.

Before that I explained what is a dipole, and then, from that, I explained ferromagnetism. I was wondering if I can explain the $$\vec{B}$$ created by a moving particle without going into Special Relativity. Thus, I was wondering if a moving charge could be considered as a dipole, since by passing through some material, the negative charge goes forward, and the holes go inwards, so that somehow we have got there a dipole. Could this be somehow a correct intuitive explanation?

• The magnetic field from a moving charge is nothing like a dipole field. For starters, a dipole field drops off proportionally to $1/r^{3}$ while the field (both magnetic and electric) due to moving charge (at constant velocity) drops off proportionally to $1/r^{2}$. I do, however, agree that it would be a bit much to talk about special relativity. Mar 3 '20 at 19:52
• Jul 10 at 11:06