AnHoang

LabPartners:AnthonyGoyeneche,KevinLai

Lab11:TheBiotSavartLaw
Purpose
ThegoalofthislabistoanalyzeandtesttheBiotSavartlawbymeasuringthemagneticfield
ontheaxisofacircularcoilandatthecenterofaHelmholtzcoil

TheoryandBackground

Whileelectricfieldsaregeneratedfromastationarycharge,magneticfieldsareproducedby
movingcharge,orelectriccurrents.Forastraightwire,thestrengthofmagneticfieldgenerated
isdirectlyproportionaltothecurrentvalueoftheelectricflowinthewireandinversely
proportionaltotheradialdistance.Therelationshipbetweenthesethreequantitiesisexpressed
0I
intheequation B = 2d
whereBismagneticfield,Iisthecurrent,anddistheradialdistance,
with 0 = 4107T m/A .

Magneticfieldaroundaclosedcoilofwireisalsoproportionaltotheelectriccurrentthrough

thecoil,asillustratedintheequation: Bdl = 0I .Ontheotherhand,theequationfor

BiotSavartlawisexpressedas: B = 40 Idlr
r2 ,where dl isaninfinitesimalsegmentofthewire

and r isaunitvector.Applyingthisequationtocircularcoils,BiotSavartlawshowsthatthe
magneticfieldofifacurrentIrunsthroughacircularcoilwithNturnsandradiusR,thenthe
magneticfieldalongtheaxisofthecoil,adistanceZfromthecenter,canbecalculatedtobe:

B=

0NIR2

2(R2+Z2)2

Iftwocoilsareused,eachwiththesameradiusandthesamecurrent,thenthemagneticfield
halfwaybetweenthetwocoilsis B =

0NIR2

(R2+Z2)2

,doublethatofthepreviousequation.Ampereslaw

areusuallyusedtocalculatemagneticfieldofobjectsthathavehighdegreeofsymmetry,
whereasBiotSavartlawcanbeappliedtomostshapesandsize.

Hypothesis
Itishypothesisthatthemagneticfieldatapointinspaceisinverselyproportionaltothe
distancefromthecoilanddirectlyproportionaltothecurrentflowingthroughthecoil.

Procedure
Theapparatus,consistingoftheHelmholtzcoils,Hallprobe,andapowersupplyis
connectedaccordingtofigure1onpage52ofthelabreport.

Forthefirstpartoftheexperiment,theHallprobeisusedtomeasurethemagneticfield
strength,duetoasinglecoil,alongtheaxisofthecoil
Magneticfieldismeasuredfromthecenteroftheloop(Zdistancefromtheloopscenter
=0.00m)totheposition(Z=0.19m)in0.01mincrements.
Then,thesamesetupisusedtomeasurethemagneticfieldatthecenterofaHelmholtz
coil(twocoils)
Inthispart,however,theHallprobeispositionedatthecenteroftheHelmholtzCoil,
halfwayinbetweenthetwocoils.
Themagneticfieldismeasuredasthecurrentofthepowersupplyisincreasedfrom
I=0.0AtoI=4.0A,in0.25Aincrements

FigureandMeasurement
Theexperimenthastwoparts.Inthefirstpart,themagneticfieldofasinglecoilwas
measuredasthedistanceoftheHallprobe,fromthecenterofthecoil,increasesalongthe
centralaxisofthecoilfrom0.00mto0.19min0.01mincrements,whilethecurrentstaysthe
sameat2.93A.
Thesecondpartinvolvesthesamesetuptomeasuremagneticfieldatthecenterofboth
HelmholtzCoilsasthecurrentthroughthecoilincreasesfrom0.0Ato4.0A,in0.25Aincrements
whiletheHallprobespositionremainedunchanged.
Eachcoilhasaradiusof0.15mandhas130turns.Setupforthisexperimentis
illustratedinFigure1

Data
(SameasKevinLai)

Table1:MeasurementsofMagneticFieldChangesontheAxisofaCircularCoil

Distance(m)
B(mT )
0.00 0.01
1.636 0.001
0.01 0.01
1.618 0.001
0.02 0.01
1.583 0.001
0.03 0.01
1.524 0.001
0.04 0.01
1.452 0.001
0.05 0.01
1.368 0.001
0.06 0.01
1.275 0.001
0.07 0.01
1.184 0.001
0.08 0.01
1.089 0.001
0.09 0.01
0.995 0.001
0.10 0.01
0.909 0.001
0.11 0.01
0.823 0.001
0.12 0.01
0.747 0.001
0.13 0.01
0.675 0.001
0.14 0.01
0.610 0.001
0.15 0.01
0.550 0.001
0.16 0.01
0.497 0.001
0.17 0.01
0.447 0.001
0.18 0.01
0.404 0.001
0.19 0.01
0.366 0.001

Table2:MeasurementsofMagneticFieldChangesattheCenterofaHelmholtzCoil

Current(A)
B(mT )
0.00 0.01
0.000 0.001
0.25 0.01
0.210 0.001
0.49 0.01
0.392 0.001
0.76 0.01
0.600 0.001
1.01 0.01
0.797 0.001
1.24 0.01
0.980 0.001
1.50 0.01
1.182 0.001
1.76 0.01
1.379 0.001
2.00 0.01
1.569 0.001
2.25 0.01
1.767 0.001
2.51 0.01
1.969 0.001
2.76 0.01
2.162 0.001
3.00 0.01
2.346 0.001

3.25 0.01
3.49 0.01
3.74 0.01
4.00 0.01

2.544 0.001
2.731 0.001
2.925 0.001
3.131 0.001

RadiusR
(m)
0.15000.0005

Number
ofTurns
130

Table3:MeasurementsofConstants
Voltag
Current Accepted
Measured 0 for
Measured 0 for
e(V)
(A)
0 (Tm/A)
circularcoil(Tm/A)
HelmholtzCoil(Tm/A)
8.10
2.93
1.257106 1.2631064.486109 1.2631069.8351010
0.05
0.01

Table4:PercentErrorCalculationResultsFor 0 values
Part
%Error(%)
Expected%Error(%)
AxisofCircularCoil
0.5
0.4
CenterofHelmholtzCoil
0.5
0.1

DiscussionandConclusion

Asshownbythealmostinsignificantpercenterrorsof0.4%and0.1%,thecalculated 0 values
frombothpartoftheexperiment( 1.263106 Tm/Aand 1.2631069.8351010 )werenearly
identicaltotheactualvalueof 1.257106 Tm/A.Thisissurprisingconsideringthattherewasa
bigsourceoferror,thedistancemeasurementsfromthecoils.SincetheHallprobecanonlybe
movedinincrementsof1.0cm,theuncertaintyofthedistancedatawasveryhigh(+/0.1cm).
TheHallprobeapparatusmusthavebeenmeticulouslydesignedsoastonegatetheeffectof
thismarginoferror,whichexplainswhythissourceoferrordidnotadverselyaffectthe
calculatedresult.

ThisexperimentconfirmstheBiotSavartlawofrelatingthestrengthofcurrentthroughcircular
coilsandthedistancefromapointinspacetothestrengthofthemagneticfieldmeasured.