Investigating the Magnetic Field of a Coil Using a Smartphone

A magnetic field is an area where a particle or molecule with magnetic characteristics experiences a force and where a mobile charge experience some energy. Magnets are classified into two categories that are electromagnetics and permanent magnets. Iron, cobalt and nickel alloys used to make permanent magnets and lines of flux commonly referred as field lines represent the magnetic fields. Therefore, in this experiment of investigating the magnetic field of a coil using a smartphone, permanent magnets used in the form of coiled wires. This assignment will examine the relationship of the magnetic field and current that passes through a coil, besides how it varies with the distance from the coil. A phyphox installed in a smartphone will be used to record and take the measurements, the data taken applicable for determining the constant nature, and the permeability of the free space denoted as o. An electric current passing through the conductor creates a line of flux. The magnetic field's size depends on the conductor's shape, distance and the amount of electric current passing through the conductor (Deacon, Goulding, Haridass & de Young, 1994).

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The equipment used in this experiment includes a DC variable power supply, Unsmoothed rectified AC, one coil of wire with a stand and position slider. Ina addition, one-meter ruler, selfie stick, a smartphone with a magnetometer that is inbuilt, one app for recording magnetic field, seven connecting wires consisting of wires, capacitors and resistor, one stopwatch and four croc clip. The coil's black connections should be connected directly to a black terminal found on the power supply (DC). The DC's connection of the power supply is connected to the ammeter labeled A whereas the black connection found on the ammeter should connect to the coil's red connection. One should connect to the back of the lead a black connection of the voltmeter and the screen of the smartphone is set at 30 minutes minimum for monitoring the measurements (Young, Freedman & Ford, 2006).

How the size of the magnetic field at the center of the coil varies with the change in electric circuit ?Moving particles like electrons produce magnetic fields commonly known as a flux when charged. However, the strength of the magnetic field depends on various variables like velocity, acceleration, and charge of the electrons or particles. Therefore, when an electric charge induces a magnetic field, the lines of flux form in the concentric parts of the coil. The size of the magnetic field will, therefore, be strong and massive in the inner concentric of the coil compared to the outer parts of the coil in the electric circuit. This means that the inside the loop of the coil, the magnetic fields is concentrated that lead to the weakening of the outside part of the coil enhanced by the solenoid (Stuessy, 2009).

How the size of the magnetic field varies with distance?

The strength and size of the line of flux changes or vary with the length and distance along the axis through the center of the coil. A device formed around an iron bar may act as an electromagnet, and a long one has a straight line of flux inside and the outer part of the coil having no magnetic field. An infinite electromagnet will produce a line of flux that resembles that generated by a permanent magnet whereby the current flowing through the coil determines its polarity and strength. A shorter electromagnet will have the power of the magnetic field evenly distributed in and outside parts of the coil (Stuessy, 2009).

When doing the plotting of the running current against the line of flux, there should be a definite linear curve. This implies that an increase in the electric current flowing in the conductor yields a more significant magnetic field and vice versa. The phone is essential in the monitor of the amount of magnetic field yielded by a variation in electric intensity passing through the conductor. A phyphox app, aided by the Android mobile program can record the data derived from the experiment. The main purposes of the phyphox app in the smartphones is to show the slope of the curve that a smartphone has proved efficient by its precise and quick measurements of the slope angles and the determination of the friction coefficient if the slope. This enhances the accuracy and ease of analyzing the results of the experiment (Young, Freedman & Ford, 2006).

Some of the Areas that need improvement in this experiment include the positioning of the smartphone that is somewhat risky in this experiment. This is because of the sensor placed at the right top of the smartphone and the coils put near the detector derive a different answer when in other positions (Sewell, 1985). The saturation of an iPhone sensor is at 2200 mT used in the experiment that damages the sensor due to over limiting of the sensor. Another area of improvement is the speed of the electric current increased or reduced during the experiment is essential since the hysteresis of the electromagnetic might be weak (Duff, 1993).

References

Deacon, C. G., Goulding, R., Haridass, C., & de Young, B. (1994). Demonstration experiments with a Stirling engine. Physics Education, 29(3), 180.

Duff, P. M. D., & Duff, D. (Eds.). (1993). Holmes' principles of physical geology. Taylor & Francis.

Sewell, M. J. (1985). Properties of a streamline in gas flow. Physics in Technology, 16(3), 127.

Duncan, T. Advanced Physics (5th edition), Hodder Educational, 2009

Stuessy, T. F. (2009). Plant taxonomy: the systematic evaluation of comparative data. Columbia University Press.

Young, H. D., Freedman, R. A., & Ford, A. L. (2006). Sears and Zemansky's university physics (Vol. 1). Pearson education.