The Magnetic Field in a Coil By Matt, Ashley, and Sana Lab Questions: Determine the relationship between magnetic

c field and the number of turns in a coil. Determine the relationship between magnetic field and the current in a coil. Hypothesis: If an electric current flows through a wire, then a magnetic field will be produced around the wire. The magnitude of the field depends on the magnitude of the current through the wire. If the wire is wrapped into a loop, the field near the center of the loop is perpendicular to the plane of the loop. When the wire is looped a number of times to form a coil, the magnetic field at the center increases. Preliminary Questions 1. Hold the plastic rod containing the Magnetic Field Sensor vertically and move it completely away from the coil. Click to begin data collection. Rotate the rod around a vertical axis. Look at the graph. What do you observe? The magnetic field reading changes as the sensor is rotated. (See graph 1). What is causing the variation of field reading? It is detecting different regions of the Earths magnetic field. 2. Determine the orientation of the sensor when the magnetic field is at a maximum, and compare the direction that the dot on the sensor is pointing with the direction that the magnetic compass needle points. What did you discover? The magnetic field is at a maximum when the sensor is pointed North. How much does the reading change in one rotation? 0.06mT 3. Set the power supply so that the current will be 3 A when the switch is closed. Place the sensor in a vertical position at the center of the coil, with the white dot facing along the axis of the coil as shown here. Click . Wait 2 to 3 seconds and then close the switch. What did you observe? When the power is turned on, the magnetic field increases. (See graph 2) 4. Repeat Step 3, but this time rotate the Magnetic Field Sensor while you are holding the switch closed. Determine the orientation of the sensor that gives the maximum reading. How much does the reading change in one rotation of the sensor? The magnetic field changes by 0.09mT as the sensor is rotated. (See graph 3) Data Tables Part I Current in coil Magnetic field (A) (mT) 3.0 0.067 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 Part II Number of turns 10 9 Magnetic field (mT) 0.1004 0.0899 Number of turns 5 4 Magnetic field (mT) 0.0442 0.0380 0.055 0.043 0.030 0.015 0.003

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Experiment 28 8 7 6 0.0730 0.0598 0.0551 3 2 1 0.0295 0.020 0.0103

Analysis: Part I 1. Plot a graph of magnetic field vs. current through the coil. Use either Graphical Analysis or graph paper. (See graph 9) 2. What is the relationship between the current in a coil and the resulting magnetic field at the center of the coil? The magnetic field increases linearly as the current through the coil increases. 3. Determine the equation of the best-fit line through the data points. Y= 0.026399x + 0.001161 Explain the significance of the constants in your equation. What are the units of the constants? The y-intercept 0.001161 represents the magnetic field mT when current is 0 Amps. 0.026399 is in mT/A, meaning that the magnetic field increases 0.026399mT every time the current increases by 1 Amp. Part II 4. Plot a graph of magnetic field vs. the number of turns on the coil. Use Graphical Analysis or graph paper. (See graph 10) 5. How is magnetic field related to the number of turns? The magnetic field increases as the number of loops increases. 6. Either using the linear regression tool in Graphical Analysis or by hand, determine the best fit line through the data points. Y= 0.008528x + 0.003070 Explain the significance of the constants in your equation. What are the units of the constants? The y-intercept 0.003070 represents the magnetic field mT when current is 0 Amps. = 0.008528 is in mT/A, meaning that the magnetic field increases = 0.008528mT every time the current increases by 1 Amp. 7. Remember that you zeroed the sensor before taking data in this lab. Should the line you fit in Step 6 go through the origin? Yes, since the magnetic field seems to be directly proportional to the current. So when current is 0 A, the magnetic field should also be 0 mT. Extensions: 1. How does the diameter of the coil loop affect the magnetic field? Design and conduct an experiment to answer this question. (See graph 11) Length of diameter Magnetic field Length of diameter Magnetic field ( ( (m) (mT) (m) (mT) .020 0.1055 .045 0.0412 .025 .030 .035 .040 0.0903 0.0701 0.0543 0.0505 .050 .055 .060 .065 0.0334 0.0254 0.0199 0.0012

2. Remove the coil and hold the Magnetic Field Sensor horizontally. (See graph 4) Collect data while rotating it smoothly about a horizontal axis. Explain where the maximum and minimum readings occur (Down) and where zero or near-zero readings occur (Up). Conclusion: 1. Our hypothesis correctly answers the lab questions.

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The Magnetic Field in a Coil 2. Our hypothesis was correct! As the current decreased in intervals of 0.5 Amps, the magnetic field did in fact decrease, from 0.067mT to 0.055mT to 0.043mT to 0.030mT to 0.015mT to 0.003mT. As the number of loops decreased by 1, the magnetic field did in fact decrease, from 0.1004mT to 0.0899mT to 0.0730mT to 0.0598mT to 0.0551, etc. 3. There are three possible sources of error for this lab. One is that the magnetic field sensor could have rotated as we did the experiment. This would have made our trials unreasonable to compare, as the sensor has a different normal level as it is rotated. This could be alleviated by securing the magnetic field sensor inside the coil. Another possible source of error is that the current reading on the current sensor jumped around a lot, so we werent sure if the current going through the wire was really what we recorded it as. This could have skewed the data. This issue may be alleviated by using a battery/current sensor that doesnt jump around a lot. A final source of error could be that the direction of the coil moved during the experiment. This would have influenced the magnetic field sensor because the sensor has a different normal at each point on the compass. As a result, our trials would be unreasonable to compare. This could be alleviated by fixing the coil to the table so that it doesnt move. 4. We use the magnetic field generated from metal coils and electricity in everyday life. An example of this is the induction stove. Beneath a metal pot is a metal coil with an electric current running through it. This generates a magnetic field, and since the metal pot is within this field (which is typically made of copper, an inductor), a second current is induced in the metal of the pot. This current is converted into heat, which cooks the food. http://home.howstuffworks.com/induction-cooktops3.htm

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