Magnetism+and+Solenoids+(Faraday's+Law)

=**Magnetism and Solenoids(Faraday's Law)**=

**Purpose**
The purpose of my experiment is to determine the relationship between the magnitude of a magnet’s magnetic field and the induced potential created by a magnet traveling through a solenoid. I wish to see if there is a significant increase in potential based on the amount of magnetic field, and if there is how significant it is. This experiment is in direct relationship to Faraday’s Law, and is meant to show a practical measured view of his idea of induced potential.

=**Procedure**=

Initially, the magnetic field of each magnet must be determined before any sort of analysis or calculations can be made:


 * Place the solenoid upright
 * Position the magnetic field sensor at the bottom of the solenoid
 * Place the magnet at the top of the solenoid
 * Maneuver the magnet until the maximum amount of magnetic field is produced. (This determines where the north and south poles are)
 * Repeat process for remaining magnets

Note: The cubed magnet produces a strangely oriented magnetic field, so it may be necessary to mark the most powerful section in order to maximize the induced potential

Now that the magnetic fields of each magnet have been identified, we can proceed to setting up the experiment:


 * Attach a galvanometer to the solenoid in order to measure induced potential.
 * Position the solenoid so the magnet will be able to fall completely through
 * Place something underneath the solenoid in order to cushion the fall of the magnet, no need to cause any damage
 * Make sure there is no other ferromagnetic material nearby, again no need to damage anything

I will be using a measuring device that connects directly to a computer and utilizes the program Logger Pro 2.0. If using this, follow these steps:


 * Plug in device and flip the switch on the back from 0 to 1
 * Open up the program and scan the ports in order to find which channel the measuring device is on
 * Adjust the range of the graph to allow for 60 seconds of capture time for the first two magnets and 120 for the last (the square magnet is a little more difficult to drop through the solenoid)

Now that your devices are plugged in and the program is running it is time to begin experimenting:


 * Press collect data and drop the magnet through the solenoid
 * Do this 20 times
 * Repeat this process for each of the three magnets, taking care not to let the neodymium magnets get near each other

Now we have our data and can continue from the experimental stage to the analysis stage by reviewing the data and graphs created by Logger Pro 2.0

Note: It is necessary to identify where the strongest points of each magnetic field is. This can be a little more difficult with the cube magnet because it does not necessarily have poles that coordinate with its faces. It may be necessary to mark a side so as to assure the same amount of field is felt.

It is also necessary to make sure each magnet is measured the same distance away from the magnetic field sensor.

**Analysis/Results**
Cube magnet .35 mT

Graph 1 shows the cube magnet, which had the strongest magnetic field. It shows higher potentials than the other two magnets peaking at almost 3 volts. There are a few low spots that do not appear to coordinate with the others, but this may be due to a bad drop that resulted in the magnetic field not being in full position


 * Weak magnet .15 mT ||
 * Graph 2 shows the weak magnet, which had the weakest magnetic field.It shows the lowest potential of all of the magnets and does not even pass .5 volts. || Cylinder Magnet .25 mT ||

Graph 3 shows the cylinder, which had the middle-most field. It showed potentials that were larger than the weak magnet, but not as large as the cube magnet. It also has some low spots which can be attributed to disrupted fall paths.

It appears, based on the data collected by experimentation, that a stronger magnetic field will produce a stronger potential. This further supports Faraday’s Law which states that power generated is equivalent to the magnetic flux divided by the amount of time it takes to pass through the solenoid. This makes sense because if you have magnetic field being divided by time and you increase the magnetic field and not the time, the potential subsequently increase. It would be safe to conclude that if you instead increased the time in which it took to pass the magnet through the solenoid rather than the magnetic field, the potential induced in the solenoid would decrease. This means that the speed with which the magnet passes through the solenoid affects the strength of the induced potential. Since magnetic flux is equivalent to magnetic field times the area of flux, it is also safe to assume that the amount of field flowing through the solenoid would change based on whether it was increased or descreased. This also attributes to why at certain times a trial would not produce nearly as much flux as another trial. It is very important that you maintain the same area throughout the entire experiment, otherwise you will end up with reults that are skewed.