TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sl. No. Contents Page no.

1. ACKNOWLEDMENT 04

2. OBJECTIVES 05

3. INTRODUCTION 06-08

4. ABOUT THE TOPIC 09-11

5. EXPERIMENT 12-13

6. OBSERVATION TABLE 14-15

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 16

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 OBJECTIVES:
 To determine the reduction factor of the given
tangent galvanometer (K).

 To find out the horizontal component of earth’s

magnetic field (Bh).

Tangent galvanometer diagram

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INTRODUCTION
Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the
magnetic field that extends from the Earth's interior to where it meets the
solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun. Its
magnitude at the Earth's surface ranges from 25 to 65 microtesla (0.25 to
0.65 gauss).Roughly speaking it is the field of a magnetic dipole
currently tilted at an angle of about 10 degrees with respect to Earth's
rotational axis, as if there were a bar magnet placed at that angle at the
center of the Earth. Unlike a bar magnet, however, Earth's magnetic field

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changes over time because it is generated by a geodynamic (in Earth's
case, the motion of molten iron alloys in its outer core).

Most geomagneticians concern themselves with

various dynamo theories, whereby a source of
energy in the core of the Earth causes a self-
sustaining magnetic field. The Earth’s steady
magnetic field is produced by many sources,
both above and below the planet’s surface.
From the core outward, these include the
geomagnetic dynamo, crustal magnetization, the ionospheric dynamo,
the ring current, the magnetopause current, the tail current, field-aligned
currents, and auroral, or convective, electrojets. The geomagnetic
dynamo is the most important source because, without the field it
creates, the other sources would not exist. Not far above the Earth’s
surface the effect of other sources becomes as strong as or stronger than
that of the geomagnetic dynamo. The Earth’s magnetic field is subject to
variation on all timescales. Each of the major sources of the so-called
steady field undergoes changes that produce transient variations, or
disturbances. The main field has two major disturbances: quasiperiodic
reversals and secular variation. An entirely different type of magnetic
variation is caused by magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves. These
waves are sinusoidal variations in the electric and magnetic fields that
are coupled to changes in particle density. They are the means by which

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information about changes in electric currents is transmitted, both within
the Earth’s core and in its surrounding environment of charged particles.

Earth's magnetic field serves to deflect most of the solar wind, whose
charged particles would otherwise strip away the ozone layer that
protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. One stripping
mechanism is for gas to be caught in bubbles of magnetic field, which
are ripped off by solar winds.

The intensity of the field is often measured in gauss (G), but is generally
reported in nanoteslas (nT), with 1 G = 100,000 nT. A nanotesla is also
referred to as a gamma (γ).The tesla is the SI unit of the Magnetic field,
B. The field ranges between approximately 25,000 and 65,000 nT (0.25–
0.65 G).

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GALVANOMETER
A galvanometer is an electromechanical instrument used for detecting
and indicating an electric current. A galvanometer works as an actuator,
by producing a rotary deflection (of a "pointer"), in response to electric
current flowing through a coil in a constant magnetic field. Early
galvanometers were not calibrated, but their later developments were
used as measuring instruments, called ammeters, to measure the current
flowing through an electric circuit.

Galvanometers developed from the observation that the needle of a

magnetic compass is deflected near a wire that has electric current
flowing through it, first described by Hans Christian Ørsted in 1820.
They were the first instruments used to detect and measure small
amounts of electric currents. André-Marie Ampère, who gave
mathematical expression to Ørsted's discovery and named the instrument
after[1] the Italian electricity researcher Luigi Galvani, who in 1791
discovered the principle of the frog galvanoscope – that electric current
would make the legs of a dead frog jerk.

Sensitive galvanometers have been essential for the development of

science and technology in many fields. For example, they enabled long
range communication through submarine cables, such as the earliest
Transatlantic telegraph cables, and were essential to discovering the

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electrical activity of the heart and brain, by their fine measurements of
current.

Galvanometers also had widespread use as the visualising part in other

kinds of analog meters, for example in light meters, VU meters, etc.,
where they were used to measure and display the output of other sensors.
Today the main type of galvanometer mechanism, still in use, is the
moving coil, D'Arsonval/Weston type.

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POGGENDORFF AND THOMSON

Thomson mirror galvanometer, patented in 1858.

Originally, the instruments relied on the Earth's magnetic field to

provide the restoring force for the compass needle. These were called
"tangent" galvanometers and had to be oriented before use. Later
instruments of the "astatic" type used opposing magnets to become
independent of the Earth's field and would operate in any orientation.
The most sensitive form, the Thomson or mirror galvanometer, was
patented in 1858 by William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) as an improvement
of an earlier design invented in 1826 by Johann Christian Poggendorff.
Thomson's design was able to detect very rapid current changes by using
small magnets attached to a lightweight mirror, suspended by a thread,
instead of a compass needle. The deflection of a light beam on the
mirror greatly magnified the deflection induced by small currents.
Alternatively, the deflection of the suspended magnets could be
observed directly through a microscope

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TANGENT GALVANOMETER
A tangent galvanometer is an early measuring instrument used for the
measurement of electric current. It works by using a compass needle to
compare a magnetic field generated by the unknown current to the
magnetic field of the Earth. It gets its name from its operating principle,
the tangent law of magnetism, which states that the tangent of the angle
a compass needle makes is proportional to the ratio of the strengths of
the two perpendicular magnetic fields. It was first described by Claude
Pouillet in 1837.[5]

A tangent galvanometer consists of a coil of insulated copper wire

wound on a circular non-magnetic frame. The frame is mounted
vertically on a horizontal base provided with levelling screws. The coil
can be rotated on a vertical axis passing through its centre. A compass
box is mounted horizontally at the centre of a circular scale. It consists
of a tiny, powerful magnetic needle pivoted at the centre of the coil. The
magnetic needle is free to rotate in the horizontal plane. The circular
scale is divided into four quadrants. Each quadrant is graduated from 0°
to 90°. A long thin aluminium pointer is attached to the needle at its
centre and at right angle to it. To avoid errors due to parallax, a plane
mirror is mounted below the compass needle.

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In operation, the instrument is first rotated until the magnetic field of the
Earth, indicated by the compass needle, is parallel with the plane of the
coil. Then the unknown current is applied to the coil. This creates a
second magnetic field on the axis of the coil, perpendicular to the Earth's
magnetic field. The compass needle responds to the vector sum of the
two fields, and deflects to an angle equal to the tangent of the ratio of the
two fields. From the angle read from the compass's scale, the current
could be found from a table.[6] The current supply wires have to be
wound in a small helix, like a pig's tail, otherwise the field due to the
wire will affect the compass needle and an incorrect reading will be
obtained.

 Tangent Galvanometer

An 1850 Pouillet Tangent Galvanometer on display at Musée d'histoire

des sciences de la Ville de Genève

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Tangent galvanometer made by J. H. Bunnell Co. around 1890.

Top view of a tangent galvanometer made about 1950. The indicator

needle of the compass is perpendicular to the shorter, black magnetic
needle.

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THEORY
The galvanometer is oriented so that the plane of the coil is vertical and
aligned along parallel to the horizontal component BH of the Earth's
magnetic field (i.e. parallel to the local "magnetic meridian"). When an
electric current flows through the galvanometer coil, a second magnetic
field B is created. At the center of the coil, where the compass needle is
located, the coil's field is perpendicular to the plane of the coil. The
magnitude of the coil's field is:
where I is the current in amperes, n is the number of turns of the coil
and r is the radius of the coil. These two perpendicular magnetic fields
add vectorially, and the compass needle points along the direction of
their resultant BH+B. The current in the coil causes the compass needle
to rotate by an angle θ:
From tangent law, B = BH tan θ, i.e.
or
or I = K tan θ, where K is called the Reduction Factor of the tangent
galvanometer.
One problem with the tangent galvanometer is that its resolution
degrades at both high currents and low currents. The maximum
resolution is obtained when the value of θ is 45°. When the value of θ is
close to 0° or 90°, a large percentage change in the current will only
move the needle a few degrees.

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GEOMAGNETIC FIELD MEASUREMENT
A tangent galvanometer can also be used to measure the magnitude of
the horizontal component of the geomagnetic field. When used in this
way, a low-voltage power source, such as a battery, is connected in
series with a rheostat, the galvanometer, and an ammeter. The
galvanometer is first aligned so that the coil is parallel to the
geomagnetic field, whose direction is indicated by the compass when
there is no current through the coils. The battery is then connected and
the rheostat is adjusted until the compass needle deflects 45 degrees
from the geomagnetic field, indicating that the magnitude of the
magnetic field at the center of the coil is the same as that of the
horizontal component of the geomagnetic field. This field strength can
be calculated from the current as measured by the ammeter, the number
of turns of the coil, and the radius of the coils.

ASTATIC GALVANOMETER
Unlike the tangent galvanometer, the astatic galvanometer does not use
the Earth's magnetic field for measurement, so it does not need to be
oriented with respect to the Earth's field, making it easier to use. It has
two magnetized needles parallel to each other, but with the magnetic

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poles reversed. suspended by a silk thread. The lower needle is inside a
vertical current sensing coil of wire and is deflected by the magnetic
field created by the passing current, as in the tangent galvanometer
above. The purpose of the second needle is to cancel the dipole moment
of the first needle, so the suspended armature has no net magnetic dipole
moment, and thus is not affected by the earth's magnetic field. The
needle's rotation is opposed by the torsional elasticity of the suspension
thread, which is proportional to the angle.

The astatic galvanometer was developed by Leopoldo Nobili in

1825.[8][9]

 Nobili's astatic galvanometer

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Galvanometer on display at Musée d'histoire des sciences de la Ville de
Genève

Detail of an astatic galvanometer.

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MIRROR GALVANOMETER
Main article: mirror galvanometer

To achieve higher sensitivity to detect extremely small currents,

the mirror galvanometer substituted a lightweight mirror for the pointer.
It consisted of horizontal magnets suspended from a fine fiber, inside a
vertical coil of wire, with a mirror attached to the magnets. A beam of
light reflected from the mirror fell on a graduated scale across the room,
acting as a long mass-less pointer. The mirror galvanometer was used as
the receiver in the first trans-Atlantic submarine telegraph cables in the
1850s, to detect the extremely faint pulses of current after their
thousand-mile journey under the Atlantic. In a device called
an oscillograph, the moving beam of light was used, to produce graphs
of current versus time, by recording measurements on photographic film.
The string galvanometer was a type of mirror galvanometer so sensitive
that it was used to make the first electrocardiogram of the electrical
activity of the human heart.

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BALLISTIC
GALVANOMETER
Main article: Ballistic galvanometer

A ballistic galvanometer is a type of sensitive galvanometer for

measuring the quantity of charge discharged through it. In reality it is
an integrator, unlike a current-measuring galvanometer, the moving part
has a large moment of inertia that gives it a long oscillation period. It
can be either of the moving coil or moving magnet type; commonly it is
a mirror galvanometer.

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 ABOUT THE TOPIC
Tangent Galvanometer:
Electric current is often measured using an
instrument called a tangent galvanometer. Able
to measure the presence as well as the direction
and power of currents, the instrument was first
used in the early 1800s. It typically has a vertical
copper wire coil, wrapped around a circular
frame, and a compass in the middle. The compass needle generally
responds to the magnetic field of the electrical current, which is
compared to the Earth’s magnetic field in the experiment. This scientific
instrument has been built in many forms and more modern ones often
use beams of light to determine measurements, while some versions are
used to measure the magnetic field of the Earth
The instrument works based on the tangent law of magnetism. This
principle defines the tangent of the angle, traveled through by the
compass needle, as being proportionate to a ratio of how strong two
magnetic fields are. These fields are usually perpendicular to one
another. Currents measured are typically proportional to the tangent of
the same angle the needle goes through.

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Circuit Diagram:

When a bar magnet is suspended in two

magnetic fields B and Bh, it comes to
rest making an angle θ with the
direction of Bh.

From Figure, B = Bh tanθ. This is known as tangent law of magnetism.

If θ is the deflection of the needle, then according to tangent law,

B = Bh tanθ (1)

Let I be the current passing through the coil of radius a with n turns, then
the magnetic field generated by the current carrying coil is,

B = µ0nI/2a (2) (a is the radius of the coil)

Equating (1) and (2), we get,

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 Bh tanθ = µ0nI/2a (3)

2aBh/µ0n = I/tanθ (4)

The left hand side of equation (4) is a constant and is called the
reduction factor K of the given Tangent Galvanometer.

K = I/tanθ (5)

Now from the equation (3) & (5), the horizontal intensity of Earth’s
magnetic field Bh is,

Bh = µ0nK/2a (6)

Applications

 Tangent Galvanometer can be used to measure the

magnitude of the horizontal component of the geomagnetic
field.
 The principle can be used to compare the galvanometer
constants.

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 EXPERIMENT

Aim:
1. To determine the reduction factor of the given tangent
galvanometer (K).
2. To find out the horizontal component of earth’s magnetic field
(Bh).

Apparatus:
 Tangent galvanometer (TG), commutator (C), rheostat (R), battery
(E), ammeter (A), key (k), connecting wires, meter scale etc.

COMMUTATOR

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RHEOSTAT

BATTERY

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AMMETER

KEY

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CONNECTING WIRES

METER SCALE

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Connections are made as shown in the figure given below, where K is
the key, E the battery, A the ammeter, R the rheostat, C the commutator,
and T.G the tangent galvanometer. The commutator can reverse the
current through the T.G coil without changing the current in the rest of
the circuit. Taking the average of the resulting two readings
for deflection averages out, any small error in positioning the TG coil
relative to the earth’s magnetic field Bh .

Principle & Formulae:

 The reduction factor of T.G is K=I/tanθ, where I is the current flowing

through the T.G which produces the deflection θ.
 The horizontal intensity of Earth’s magnetic field at a place. Bh = µ0nK/2r,
where n is the number of turns of the coil, µ0 = 4π×10-7 NA-2 is the
 permeability of free space, K is the
reduction factor of the T.G and r is
the radius of the coil of the T.G.

Procedure:

1. The circuit is made as shown in the diagram. The plane of the coil
is made vertical by adjusting the leveling screws. The plane of the
coil is made by adjusting the leveling screws. The plane of the coil
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 is made parallel to (90-90) in the compass box. The whole T.G is
rotated to read (0-0) at the ends of the aluminum pointer. Now the
plane of the coil is in the magnetic meridian.
2. The Commutator keys are put. The rheostat should be adjusted for
deflection in T.G between 10 and 60. For a current I, the
deflections of the pointer θ1 & θ2 are noted. The Commutator is
reversed. The deflections of the pointer θ3 & θ4 are noted. The
average of the four readings is the deflection θ. From the theory of
the T.G, I=K tanθ.
3. By varying the current the experiment is repeated. Using a string
the circumference of the coil is measured. Hence its radius r is
found. Let n be the number of turns of the coil. The horizontal
intensity at the place is given by, Bh = µ0nK/2r

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 OBSERVATION TABLES
Table 1: For variation of θ with I.

Deflection in T.G
Ammeter
SL.No Reading Mean K
θ1 θ2 θ3 θ4
(A) =I/tanθ

1 0.15 35 35 35 35 35 0.2142

2 0.20 49 47 60 64 53.6 0.1474

3 0.25 36 36 55 58 46.25 0.2389

4 0.30 50 50 65 68 58.2 0.1860

5 0.27 45 45 64 65 53.8 0.1976

Mean K = 0.19682

 The reduction factor of TH = 0.19682

 Number of turns of the coil = 50
 Circumference of the coil (S) = 2π= 50.49 cm

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 TABLE 2: For radius of tangent galvanometer.

S.No. Inner Outer Mean Mean radius

diameter d1 diameter d2 diameter
(cm) (cm) d
1. 16.0 × 10−2 16.40 × 10−2 16.20 × 10−2 8.10 ×10−2
2. 16.16 × 10−2 16.08 × 10−2 16.12 × 10−2 8.06 × 10−2
3. 16.06 × 10−2 16.10 × 10−2 16.08 × 10−2 8.04 × 10−2
Mean radius of coil R= 8.04x10−2

Horizontal Intensity at the place Bh = µ0nK/2r

= 2πnK×10-7/r = 7.6867×10-8 T

For different values of current I, deflections are noted and values are calculated.
Knowing K, n and r the value of horizontal intensity Bh can be calculated.

Graph:
From the graph,

tan θ
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 A C

Current I (A)

Slope of the straight line = BC

G AC

m = tan θ ________(1)
s I

Now, substitute (1) in formula = μ0 2πN/4π RH

Then, H = 7.6867×10-5 T

Result:

1. The reduction factor of T.G, K = 0.19682 A

2. Horizontal Intensity at the place, Bh = 7.6867×10-5 T

Conclusion:

Experiment in tangent galvanometer gives the reduction factor of

galvanometer and horizontal intensity of Earth’s magnetic field.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Illustrative Oxford Book
 http://en.wikipedia.org
 Comprehensive Practical Physics
 www.wisegeek.com
 www.britannica.com
 www.amrita.edu

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