Electricity & Magnetism

[Fromage]

Moving a copper wire (or other conductor) through a magnetic field causes electric current to flow in the wire (as in generators). On an atomic level, what is it about the magnetic field that generates the electric current in the wire?

[Klaynos]

On a subatomic level, magnetic field's effect moving charges, in conducting metals you have a free electron gas (note this is a simplification), a net movement of charge is described as a current see:

 

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/magnetic/magfor.html#c2