The direction of lines of force of the magnetic field produced by a straight wire carrying current is obtained by Maxwell’s right hand thumb rule. According to Maxwell’s right-hand thumb rule, “Imagine that the current carrying wire is in the right hand so that the thumb points in the direction of current, then the direction in which the fingers encircle the wire gives the direction of magnetic lines of force around the wire.

Imagine a current carrying wire AB in which the current is flows vertically upwards. To find out the direction of magnetic lines of force produced by this current, we imagine the wire AB to be held in the right hand, so that the thumb points in the direction of current towards A. Now, the direction in which the fingers are folded gives the direction of the lines of force. In this case the fingers are folded in the anti-clockwise direction, so the magnetic lines of force are also in the anti-clockwise direction.