The Pico Magnetic Induction Kit provides a simple and effective method for students to investigate the concept of Faraday's laws of electromagnetic induction. A small bar magnet is dropped down the tube and, as it passes through the coil, an electromagnetic field (emf) is induced. The output pulse can be viewed using a Pico
PC oscilloscope, a
DrDaq data logger or most other types of digital storage oscilloscopes.
The Magnetic Induction Kit can be used to demonstrate electromagnetic induction, the direction of induced currents and variation of the size of induced emf with velocity. It can also be used as a student-based investigation, either with full instructions or as an open investigation where the students research the concepts.
A suitable experiment for the kit can be viewed online at the Pico library of science experiments
A copy of the instructions are available for downloading in PDF format.
Michael Faraday
English scientist Michael Faraday's scientific work laid the foundations of all subsequent electro-technology. From his experiments came devices which led directly to the modern electric motor, generator and transformer. Faraday was also the greatest scientific lecturer of his day, and did much to publicise the great advances of nineteenth-century science and technology through his articles, correspondence and the Friday evening discourses which he established at the Royal Institution. The Royal Institution Christmas lectures for children, begun by Faraday, continue to this day.
On 29th August 1831, using his "induction ring", Faraday made one of his greatest discoveries - electromagnetic induction: the "induction" or generation of electricity in a wire by means of the electromagnetic effect of a current in another wire. The induction ring was the first electric transformer. In a second series of experiments in September he discovered magneto-electric induction: the production of a steady electric current. To do this, Faraday attached two wires through a sliding contact to a copper disc. By rotating the disc between the poles of a horseshoe magnetic he obtained a continuous direct current. This was the first generator.
Faraday's laws of electromagnetic induction state:
- A changing magnetic field induces an electromagnetic force in a conductor.
- The electromagnetic force is proportional to the rate of change of the field.
- The direction of the induced electromagnetic force depends on the orientation of the field.
