INTRODUCTION

A moving coil galvanometer is a sensitive instrument used to detect

and measure electric currents. It consists of a coil of wire, often
wound on a lightweight frame, suspended within the field of a
permanent magnet. When an electric current flows through the coil,
it experiences a torque due to the interaction between the magnetic
field and the current-carrying coil. This torque causes the coil to
rotate.A
Galvanometers were developed from the observation that the
needle of a magnetic compass is deflected when brought near a wire
that has electric current flowing through it, which was first
described by Hans Oersted in 1820. Galvanometers were the first
instruments used to detect and measure small amounts of electric
currents. André-Marie Ampere gave the mathematical expression to
Oersted's discovery and named the instrument after the Italian
electricity researcher Luigi Galvani.

Today, galvanometers are used in a wide variety of industrial

appliances like control systems, laser engraving, laser TVs, laser
displays, and laser sintering, among others. They can also be used to
control the status of head servos in CD/DVD players and on hard
drives.

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 PRINCIPLE

The principle behind moving coil galvanometer is that when

current carrying coil is suspended in a uniform magnetic
field, torque acts on it. So it can be said that the deflection
in the coil in a moving coil galvanometer is directly
proportional to the current flowing through the coil.
Here, when a coil ABCD is
placed between two poles of a
magnet, it experiences a torque
given by,
Torque= NIABsin(θ)

CONSTRUCTION
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 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 fiber of
phosphor-bronze. A spring is
attached to the other end of
the coil. The current enters
the coil through the fiber 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.

THEORY
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Consider a rectangular coil PQRS, with number of turns=1,
length=l and breadth=b, that is suspended in a uniform
magnetic field B. The plane of the coil is parallel to the
magnetic field. Let I be the current through the coil.
The sides PQ and RS are parallel
to the magnetic field so they
don’t experience any force. Sides
PS and QR being perpendicular
to the magnetic field experience
equal and opposite forces, given
by,
F= BIl
As these forces are equal and
opposite, they form a couple and torque acts on the coil
which is given by,
Torque= F x Perpendicular distance between PS and QR
Torque= Fb
Torque=BIlb
Hence, Torque=BIA [Since l x b=Area of coil (A)]
If the coil has n turns, Torque=nBIA
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

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the coil produces a twist in the fiber which produces a
restoring torque which is directly proportional to the angle
of deflection θ.
Τ∝θ
∴ T = kθ
Where k is torque per unit twist for the suspension wire.
When the coil attains equilibrium, the restoring torque
becomes equal to the deflecting torque.
Deflecting Torque = Restoring Torque
n B I A = kθ ….
This implies that, I = kθ/nBIA
Hence, I ∝ θ
Thus, in a moving coil galvanometer, the current is directly
proportional to the angle of deflection.

SENSITIVITY
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A galvanometer is said to be sensitive if it produces large
deflection even for small currents.
There are two types of sensitivity for a galvanometer:
1- Current sensitivity
2- Voltage sensitivity
Current sensitivity determines how much a galvanometer
will deflect on passing some current through it. Similarly,
voltage sensitivity determines how much the galvanometer
will undergo deflection when some potential difference is
applied across its ends.
The sensitivity of a galvanometer can be increased by:
1- Increasing number of turns (n) in the coil.
2- Increasing the area (A) of the coil.
3- Increasing the external magnetic field (B).
4- Couple per unit twist of suspension wire (k).

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 VOLTMETER
Voltmeter is an instrument used to measure potential
difference between the two ends of a current carrying
conductor. A galvanometer can be converted into a
voltmeter by connecting
a high resistance in
series with it. The scale
is calibrated in volt. The
value of the resistance
connected in series
decides the range of the
voltmeter.
Let us make the following assumptions,
Galvanometer resistance = G
The current required to produce full scale deflection in the
galvanometer = I’
Range of voltmeter to be made = V
Resistance to be connected in series = R
Since R is in series with the galvanometer,
V
I’ = R +G

V
Hence, R = I'
−G

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Therefore, when a galvanometer of resistance R given by
the above equation is connected in series to a galvanometer
of resistance G, it can be used to measure voltage up to V.
The effective resistance of the voltmeter is given by,
Rv = R+G

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 AMMETER

An ammeter is a device used to measure current in

amperes. Even though the deflection of a galvanometer is
directly proportional to the current, the galvanometer scale
is not marked in ampere. Being a very sensitive
instrument, a large current cannot be passed through the
galvanometer, as it may damage the coil. However, a
galvanometer is converted into an ammeter by connecting a
low resistance in parallel with it. As a result, when large
current flows in a circuit, only a small fraction of the
current passes through the galvanometer and the
remaining larger portion of the
current passes through the
low resistance. The low
resistance connected in
parallel with the galvanometer
is called shunt resistance, and
is denoted by S.
Let I be the current in amperes that is to be measured and
Ig be the current passing through the galvanometer at
which it gives maximum reading. Consequently, I −¿ Ig
current flows through the shunt resistance S.
Since the galvanometer and shunt resistance are parallel,
they have same potential.
Therefore, Ig.G = (I −¿ Ig)S
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 Ig
S= G
I −I g

Hence when a shunt resistance S is connected to a

galvanometer of resistance G in parallel, then current up to
I can be measured using that galvanometer.
Effective resistance of ammeter,
GS
Ra = G+ S

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS:

 PHYSICS NCERT CLASS 12th.

 Modern’s ABC PHYSICS CLASS 12th
WEBSITE:

 https://www.google.com/images
 https://www.wikipedia.org/
 https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/

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