From energy balance the pinch ratiorp/r0(whererp= equilibrium pinch radius andr0= original radius) may be directly computed for the case of a constant current electromagnetic pinch. For the case of a varying current, to solve the energy integral requires the current as a function of the pinch radius. To achieve this an approximate pinch trajectory is first estimated using a snow‐plow model. This trajectory by itself gives a zero pinch ratio but it enables the energy integral to be performed. The theoretically predicted values ofrp/r0for several cases are found to be in satisfactory agreement with experimental values. This procedure would be useful for designers of pinch devices.