KMC PUBLIC

SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL

Perumanallur, Tirupur.

PROJECT REPORT ON MOVING COIL

GALVANOMETER

NAME : PRANAV S
ROLL NO :
CLASS : XII
SUBJECT : PHYSICS (042)
ACADEMIC YEAR : 2022 - 2023

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 KMC PUBLIC
SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL
Perumanallur, Tirupur.

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that PRANAV S Roll No: ( ) has successfully

completed the project Work entitled MOVING COIL GALVANOMETER the

subject PHYSICS (042) laid down in the regulations of CBSE for the purpose of

Practical Examination in Class XII to be held in KMC Public Senior Secondary

School (CBSE), Perumanallur, Tirupur on…………………….

Subject In-charge Principal

Internal Examiner External Examiner

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to express our sincere thanks and deep gratitude to Mr. Dr. T. Srinivasan, M.Sc.,B.Ed.,
PhD, Principal, KMC Public Senior Secondary School for his encouragement and for all
facilities that she provided for this project work. My sincere thanks to Senior Secondary
Coordinator Mrs. V Elizabeth Sharmila, M.Sc.,M.Ed., for her Unstinted support throughout
this project. I sincerely appreciate this magnanimity by taking us into her fold for which I shall
remain indebted to her.

I extend our hearty thanks to Mr Eswar, MSc, M Ed and Mr Rajagopalan V

M.sc,BEd,M.phil,MBA (PHYSICS) facilitator who guided me to the successful completion
of the project. I take this opportunity to express my deep sense of gratitude for hisvaluable
guidance, constant encouragement, constructive comments, sympathetic attitude and immense
motivation, which has sustained my effort at all stages of this project work.

I offer sincere thanks to my friends who helped us to carry out this project work successfully
and for their valuable advice and support, which I received from them time to time.

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 INDEX

S.no. Title PAGE No.

1. Certificate 2
2. Acknowledgement 3
3. Index 4
4 Introduction 5
5 Principle and 6-7
Construction
6 Theory 8-9
7 Advantages and 10
Disadvantages
8 Sensitivity and Accuracy 11-13
9 Bibliography 14

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 INTRODUCTION
A galvanometer is an electromechanical instrument for detecting and indicating
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 Oersted 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 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 electrical activity of the heart and brain, by their
fine measurements of current.

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 PRINCIPLE OF MOVING COIL
GALVANOMETER

When a current carrying coil is suspended in a uniform magnetic

field it is acted upon by a torque. Under the action of this torque,
the coil rotates and the deflection in the coil in a moving coil
galvanometer is directly proportional to the current flowing
through the coil.

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 CONSRTUCTION

The suspended type consists of a rectangular coil of thin insulated copper wires
having a large number of turns.

The coil is suspended between the poles of a powerful horseshoe magnet by a

suspension fibre of phosphor-bronze. A spring is attached to the other end of the
coil. The current enters the coil through the fibre and leaves the coil through the
spring.

The upper end of the suspension fiber is connected to a rotating screw head so that
the plane of the coil can be adjusted in any desired position.

The horseshoe magnet has cylindrically concave pole-pieces. Due to this shape, the
magnet produces radial magnetic field so that when coil rotates in any position its
plane is always parallel to the direction of magnetic field. When current flows
through the coil it gets deflected.

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A soft iron cylinder is fixed inside the coil such that the coil can rotate freely
between the poles and around the cylinder. Due to the high permittivity, the soft
iron core increases the strength of the radial magnetic field.

A small plane mirror M is fixed to the suspension fibre. This along with lamp and
scale arrangement is used to measure the deflection of the coil.

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 THEORY
Consider a rectangular coil PQRS of single turn having length ‘l’ and breadth ‘b’
suspended in a uniform magnetic field of induction B such that the plane of the
coil is parallel to the magnetic field. Let ‘I’ be the current through the coil.

• The sides PS and QR being parallel to the magnetic field do not experience
any force, but the sides PQ and RS being perpendicular to the magnetic field
experience force. The force experienced by each side is given by

F=BIl

• By Fleming’s left-hand rule these forces are opposite in direction. As these

two forces are equal and opposite they form what is called as a couple and
due to which a torque acts on the coil which tries to deflect the coil. The
deflection torque is given by,

Torque = Force x Perpendicular distance between the forces.

τ=Fxb

∴τ = B I l × b

But l τ b = A, the area of the coil

∴τ = B I A

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If the coil has ‘n’ turns, then the deflecting torque is given by

∴τ = n BIA

• Under the action of this torque, the plane of the coil rotates through an angle
θ before coming to rest. Due to the radial magnetic field, the plane of the
coil is always parallel to the direction of magnetic field. Thus at any
position, the deflecting torque has constant magnitude. The rotation of the
coil produces a twist in the fibre which produces a restoring torque which is
directly proportional to the angle of deflection θ.

Τ∝θ

∴τ = k θ

Where k is the torque per unit twist (or torsional constant) of the suspension fiber.

• When the coil comes to rest i.e. when it attains equilibrium, the restoring
torque will balance the deflecting torque. So in equilibrium position of the
coil,

Deflecting torque = Restoring torque.

nBIA=kθ

The quantities in bracket are constant, therefore

∴I∝q

Thus in a moving coil galvanometer current in the coil is directly proportional to

the angle of deflection of the coil.

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 ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES
Advantages of Moving Coil Galvanometers:
• They are not affected by strong magnetic field.

• They have the high torque to weight ratio.

• They are very accurate and reliable.

• Their scales are uniform.

Disadvantages of Moving Coil Galvanometers:

• The change in temperature causes a change in restoring torque.

• Restoring torque cannot be easily changed.

• There is a possibility of damage to the phosphor bronze fiber or helical

restoring spring due to severe stresses.

• Such instruments can only be used for measurement of direct current

quantities and cannot be used for measurement of alternating current
quantities.

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 SENSITIVITY AND ACCURACY OF A
GALVANOMETER
Sensitivity of Moving Coil Galvanometer:

• The sensitivity of moving coil galvanometer is defined as the ratio of the

change in deflection of the galvanometer to the change in the current.

Sensitivity = dθ / di

• A galvanometer is said to be sensitive if it gives larger deflection for a small

current.

The current in moving coil galvanometer is given by

• Thus the sensitivity of moving coil galvanometer can be increased by o

Increasing the number turns (n) of the coil,

o Increasing the area (A) of the coil, o increasing the magnetic

induction (B) and o Decreasing the couple per unit twist (k) of the

suspension fiber.

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Limitations to Increase in Sensitivity of Moving Coil
Galvanometer:

• If the turns of the coil are increased the length of wire and hence the
resistance of the coil increases.

• Increasing the area of the coil beyond limit makes the instrument bulky.

• Increase in the number of turns and area of the coil increases the load on
suspension fiber. Hence spring higher value of k should be used which
decreases the sensitivity of the galvanometer.

• Increasing the strength of magnetic induction leads to increase in the weight

of the apparatus.

• Decreasing the couple per unit twist of the spring leads to decrease in the
strength of the spring.

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Accuracy of Moving Coil Galvanometer:
• The relative error in the measurement of current is given by di/i

For moving coil galvanometer, the current through it is given by

• Thus the error in the measurement of current depends only on the

measurement of the deflection in the galvanometer dθ.

• For greater accuracy of the galvanometer, the ratio di / i should be small. It

is small when the deflection is large. Thus for greater accuracy, the
deflection in the galvanometer should be large for small current in it.

• As the expression of accuracy does not contain the terms n, A, B and k the
accuracy is independent of the number of turns of the coil, the area of the
coil, the magnetic induction and constant for the spring.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.brainkart.com
www.wikipedia.com
www.google.com/images
www.hemantmore.org.in

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