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A New Spinning Coil for Measuring the Earth's Magnetic Field

 

A presentation from the 2013 Summer Meeting: Portland, Oregon

Abstract

A common way of measuring Earth's magnetic field in an introductory physics lab is by spinning a coil, and using an oscilloscope to analyze the induced emf. The coil is typically rotated by a motor, but we have constructed a device that uses a falling mass instead. Our device includes an angular velocity sensor and leads for a voltage sensor, so the frequency of rotation can be analyzed in addition to the induced emf. Problems that arise with motorized spinning coils include noise from the generator and large repair costs, but by replacing these motorized models with out apparatus, we are able to not only develop a more efficient way of measuring Earth's magnetic field, but also richer data for students to analyze.

Details

Author:
Chris Kaneshiro

Co-Author(s)
Daniel Lund
Steven Sun
Xueli Zou
Eric Dietz

Paper Type:
Poster

Meeting:
2013 Summer Meeting: Portland, Oregon

Time:
09:15 AM

Session:
Post-Deadlne Poster

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