Physics Project

Amey Kulkarni

th
11 (Science)

Roll No- 35
 Phenomenon of Electromagnetic
Induction

Introduction
Electromagnetic or magnetic induction is the production
of an electromotive force (i.e., voltage) across an electrical
conductor in a changing magnetic field.
Michael Faraday is generally credited with the discovery
of induction in 1831, and James Clerk Maxwell
mathematically described it as Faraday's law of induction.
Lenz's law describes the direction of the induced field.
Faraday's law was later generalized to become the
Maxwell–Faraday equation, one of the four Maxwell
equations in his theory of electromagnetism.
Electromagnetic induction has found many applications,
including electrical components such as inductors and
transformers, and devices such as electric motors and
generators.
 Theory
Electricity and magnetism were considered separate and
unrelated phenomena for a long time. In the early
decades of the nineteenth century, experiments on
electric current by Oersted, Ampere and a few others
established the fact that electricity and magnetism are
inter-related. They found that moving electric charges
produce magnetic fields.
When Faraday first made public his discovery that relative
motion between a bar magnet and a wire loop produced a
small current in the latter, he was asked, “What is the use
of it?” The phenomenon of electromagnetic induction is
not merely of theoretical or academic interest but also of
practical utility. The pioneering experiments of Faraday
and Henry have led directly to the development of
modern day generators and transformers. Today’s
civilisation owes its progress to a great extent to the
discovery of electromagnetic induction.
The phenomenon of electromagnetic induction is the
existence of an induced current in a circuit (such as a coil)
placed in a region where the magnetic field motion
changes with the time. The magnetic field may change
due to relative motion between coil and magnet placed
near the coil as shown in the Fig. 1. We know that a
current-carrying conductor also produces magnetic field
that changes with a change in the current flowing through
it. Thus if a coil is placed near to a current-carring
conductor, an induced current in the coil may setup due
to a change in the current through the current-carrying
conductor.
Fig. 1: Moving a magnet towards a coil sets up a current in
the coil circuit, as indicated by deflection in the
galvanometer needle.
 Fig. 1

Procedure
1. Take a coil of wire having a large number of turns.
2. Connect the end of the coil to a galvanometer.
3. Take a strong bar magnet and move its north pole into
the coil and observe the changes in the galvanometer
needle.
4. Repeat earlier step with the south pole of the bar
magnet.
5. Now repeat the procedure with the coil having a
different number of turns and the variation in the
deflection of the galvanometer needle.
 Observations
1. When we move the magnet in or out of the coil, the
needle of galvanometer gets deflected in different
directions.
2. When we insert the north pole (N) of bar magnet into
the coil, the needle gets deflected in negative direction.
3. When we insert the south pole (S) of bar magnet into
the coil, the needle gets deflected in positive direction.
4. When we move the bar magnet in or out of the coil
with varying speed, the speed of deflection changes
accordingly.
5. As we increase the number of turns in the coil, the
deflection increases.
Result
1. The deflection of galvanometer needle indicates the
presence of current in the coil.
2. The direction of deflection gives the direction of flow of
current.
3. The speed of deflection gives the rate at which the
current is induced.
4. The deflection in galvanometer changes with the
change in number of turns in the coil.