what shape will the magnetic field around a straight wire carrying an electric current be?

The magnetic field around a long, straight wire carrying an electric current forms concentric circles centered on the wire, lying in planes perpendicular to the wire.

Basic idea

• When current flows through a straight conductor, it creates a magnetic field in the space around it.

• The field lines are closed loops that circle around the wire, not straight lines along it or radiating outward.

What is the “shape”?

• In cross‑section, the pattern is a set of concentric circles around the wire.

• In 3D, you can picture it as a series of circular field lines forming a kind of cylindrical “sleeve” of magnetic field around the wire.

How to remember it

• Use the right‑hand rule:
  • Point the right thumb in the direction of the current.
  • Curl the fingers around the wire; the curled fingers show the circular direction of the magnetic field lines.

So, for the question “what shape will the magnetic field around a straight wire carrying an electric current be?”, the correct description is: concentric circles around the wire.

TL;DR: The magnetic field lines around a straight current‑carrying wire are concentric circles centered on the wire.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.