Lab 09: Faraday’s Law and Generator

You will need to run a simulation to do the lab. Answer the following questions as you work through
the lab. Write your answers in blue. Re-load the file in Word or PDF format in Moodle before the due
date.

Lab Objective:
• To observe changing magnetic flux and its impact on electromotive force (emf).
• To observe induced voltage behavior in an electrodynamic environment.
• To account for energy exchanges using Faraday’s Law and Lenz’s Law.

Simulation: Open Generator

 
Take a few minutes to be familiar with the simulation.

1. Transformer

1. Click on the Transformer tab and you see a coil (primary) attached with a battery and another coil
(secondary) attached with a light bulb. Move the primary coil in and out of the secondary coil.
(a) What happens to the light bulb?

(b) If you switch the light bulb with a resistor, what happens to the voltage indicator?

(c) Instead of moving the primary coil, move the secondary coil while the primary coil is stationary. Did you
see the same effect you observed above?

v Simulation  created  by  the  Physics  Education  Technology  Project  (PhET)  c/o  The  University  of  Colorado  at  Boulder  http://phet.colorado.edu/  
rd
v This  lab  has  been  modified  for  the  On-­‐line  lab  course  from  “Electricity  and  Magnetism”,  3  Ed.  Sokoloff,  Laws  and  Thornton  for  UNCC  labs  
1102L/2102L.  
2. Change the battery of the primary coil with an AC source and the secondary coil with the light bulb. What
happens while the primary coil is not moving? Why does the light bulb on the secondary coil light up?

3. Do the electrons in the light bulb move as fast as the AC source? If not, what do you do to match the
speed of electrons?

4. In a transformer, moving electrons in one coil create a magnetic field. When the created magnetic field
interacts with a second coil, electrons can be forced to move in the second coil. Depending on the
number of turns in the secondary coil as compared to the primary, the transformer can be considered as
step down or step up.
(a) Arrange the primary coil with one loop attached to the AC source, and the secondary coil with one loop
attached to the voltage indicator. Now increase the number of loops on the secondary to two then three.
What did you observe?

What type of transformer set up is this? __________

(b) Arrange the primary coil with three loops attached to the AC source, and the secondary coil with three
loops attached to the voltage indicator. Now decrease the number of loops on the secondary to two then
one. What did you observe?

What type of transformer set up is this? _____________

(c) Arrange the primary and secondary coils with the same number of loops. Write your observations when
you change the amplitude and frequencies of the AC source attached to the primary coil.
Change amplitude: _____
Change frequencies: ______

v Simulation  created  by  the  Physics  Education  Technology  Project  (PhET)  c/o  The  University  of  Colorado  at  Boulder  http://phet.colorado.edu/  
rd
v This  lab  has  been  modified  for  the  On-­‐line  lab  course  from  “Electricity  and  Magnetism”,  3  Ed.  Sokoloff,  Laws  and  Thornton  for  UNCC  labs  
1102L/2102L.  
5. Since the total power in the transformer remains constant, what can you say about the current output in
the step up and step down transformers?
For step up transformer: ________
For step down transformer: ________

2. Generator

In a generator, an outside source of mechanical motion supplies the energy to move a magnet in a
magnetic field. A generator works just like the moving magnet in a magnetic field

1. Click on the Generator tab and you see a water faucet, a compass, a bar magnet on a wheel (turbine),
and a coil of wire connected to an incandescent bulb. Move the compass around a little and determine
what it is reacting to at this time.

2. Turn the faucet on, just enough to get about 10 RPM on the turbine. What effect does this have on the
compass and the light bulb?

3. Increase the rotation to about 30, 60, even 100 RPM. What effect does that appear to have on the
compass and the bulb?

4. Increase and decrease the number of loops. What effect does this have?

5. Increase and decrease the bar magnet’s strength. What effect does this have?

v Simulation  created  by  the  Physics  Education  Technology  Project  (PhET)  c/o  The  University  of  Colorado  at  Boulder  http://phet.colorado.edu/  
rd
v This  lab  has  been  modified  for  the  On-­‐line  lab  course  from  “Electricity  and  Magnetism”,  3  Ed.  Sokoloff,  Laws  and  Thornton  for  UNCC  labs  
1102L/2102L.  
6. Increase and decrease the loop area. What effect does this have?

7. Replace the bulb with a Voltage Meter. Repeat steps 3 through 6 and write your observations.

8. The moving of this magnet has created an electric current in the coil, which is being utilized by the bulb.
Do you know what we call such a device? What is it?

9. If the process is reversed, what is this device called? What is needed for this process to work? Can you
simulate this process?

3: Summary
Faraday’s law of induction states that a
potential difference is induced in a loop when there is a
change in the magnetic flux through the loop.

∆ !
emf = N ∆!

Lenz’s Law states that the current induced in a loop by a changing magnetic flux produces a magnetic field
that opposes this change in magnetic flux. Based on the Faraday’s Law of induction, the maximum emf
produced can be derived and given by the formula: 𝑒𝑚𝑓!"# = 𝑁𝐴𝐵 . Define what each variable means and
correlate with the steps performed using simulation investigate and describe how it affects emf.

N: _________ A: __________ B: __________

v Simulation  created  by  the  Physics  Education  Technology  Project  (PhET)  c/o  The  University  of  Colorado  at  Boulder  http://phet.colorado.edu/  
rd
v This  lab  has  been  modified  for  the  On-­‐line  lab  course  from  “Electricity  and  Magnetism”,  3  Ed.  Sokoloff,  Laws  and  Thornton  for  UNCC  labs  
1102L/2102L.  
4: Conclusion Calculations and Questions:

1. A DC electromagnet creates a changing / constant magnetic field and an electromagnet powered with
AC creates a changing / constant magnetic field.

2. As the number of loops in the coil decreases/increases, the magnetic field strength of the electromagnet
increases.

3. In a step up transformer, the emf (voltage) is stepped up and the ______________ is stepped down.

4. The power output of a step up transformer is greater than / less than / the same as the input power of
the transformer.

5. The power output of a transformer is 100W. The input voltage is 25V. What is the number of loops ratio
of the transformer if the output current is 1.0 A? ______________

6. As the magnet RPM increases / decreases, the voltage induced in the coil increases/decreases, but
the current increases/decreases/remains the same.

7. A device which converts electrical energy to mechanical energy is called electric motor / electric
generator.

v Simulation  created  by  the  Physics  Education  Technology  Project  (PhET)  c/o  The  University  of  Colorado  at  Boulder  http://phet.colorado.edu/  
rd
v This  lab  has  been  modified  for  the  On-­‐line  lab  course  from  “Electricity  and  Magnetism”,  3  Ed.  Sokoloff,  Laws  and  Thornton  for  UNCC  labs  
1102L/2102L.