Department of Physics

Course Number
Course Title
Semester/Year
Instructor

PCS-130
Physics 2
Winter 2016
Dr. V.Toronov

TA Name

Ermias Wolde Michael

Lab/Tutorial Report No.

Report Title

Magnetic fields

Section No.
Group No.
Submission Date
Due Date

17

Student Name
Abdulrahman Jijawi
Won Park

February 2nd, 2016

February 3rd, 2016
Student ID
Format: xxxx12345
xxxx74011
Xxxx28379

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(Note: remove the first 4 digits from your student ID)

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Objective

Thepurposeoftheexperiment,MagneticFields,istomeasurethemagnetic
fieldoftheearthandfieldcausedbyelectriccurrentsinalongstraightwireandcommon
coils.Theearthsmagneticcurrentiscreatedbytheearthscrustanduppermantle,
formedbyironorebodies(Roberto&Antonio,2006).Regardsmagneticfieldproduced
aroundthewire,themagnitudeofthefieldincreasesasthemagnitudeofthecurrent
increases(Ryerson,2016).Thisexperimentsoughttomeasurethemagneticfield
magnitudeoftheearth,fieldmagnitudeofthecoilasthemagnitudeofthecurrent
increases,fieldmagnitudeindifferentlocationofthecurrentloop,andaroundalong
straightconductor.
Theory
Theearthissurroundedwithmagneticfieldsgeneratedbymoltenironcoresfrom
earthscrustanduppermantles(Lanza&Roberto,2006).Itseemsthattheironcores
haveturnedintomineralmagnetitecreatingthemagneticloopthatcirculatesaroundthe
earth(Rolf,2002).Whentheironoresaremelted,thereareitcreatestwosuccinct
categoryofmetalconductor.AccordingtoRolf(2002),meltedironconsistedofmetal,
whichisagoodconductorofelectricityasfluid,whichisappropriatemediumfor
conduction,createsthecurrentloopthatgeneratesmagnetism.Giventhefactthatearthis
selfcreatingcurrentloopcalledgeodynamo,itactsasamagnetcreatingmagneticcurrent
onitssurface.Alsothepolesareslightlytiltedby10degreesastheearthitselfistilted
andtheNorthPolesmagneticpoleisactuallyasouthmagneticpole(Knight,2013).This
isthereasonthatnorthareaonthecompasspointstowardtotheNorthPoleduethe
oppositemagneticattraction.

Themagnitudeandthedirectionofthemagneticfieldaredeterminedbythe
magnitudeoftheelectriccurrentcreatedbythewire.Byexaminingtheequation,
B = NI/2R, the magnitude of the B, the magnetic field, is directly proportional to the
value of I, which is the magnitude of the current, which when value of I increases, value
of B increases. The direction of the B can be determined by using right hand rule (Knight,
2013). The direction of the current is always perpendicular to the direction of the I. If the
current moves right on the x-axis, the magnetic field will always move into the page and
vice versa.
When the I value is constant but the R value, which is the displacement from the
center of two Helmholtz coils, is not constant it will create changes in B value. By
examining B=4 NI/((125)R), values of B and R are reversely proportional to each
other, which suggests as R value increases, the magnitude of B will decrease. Same
analogy can be explained when measuring the B value using a long straight conductor.
The equation
B= I/2 r, the value r, which is the perpendicular distance from the conductor, is
reversely proportional to magnitude of B.
Procedure
PartI:MeasuretheMagneticFieldoftheEarthinYourLabRoom
MaterialsthatwereusedforthisexperimentwereVerniermagneticfieldsensor,a
compass,LoggerProprogram,labcomputerandVerniercomputerinterface.After
openinguptheLoggerProprogram,thecompasshadtobeadjustedtothecorrect
direction,wherenorthpointstothenortherndirection.Afterswitchingthesensorofthe
magneticfieldsensorto0.3mT,themagneticfieldmagnitudeofNorthandSouth,East

andWest,andUpandDownweremeasuredusingtheLoggerProprogram.Thegraphof
theBvaluewasillustratedwhenclickingcollectbutton.Afterthegraphofeach
directionswereillustratedusingtheLoggerPro,themeanvalueofthewholegraph
wouldrepresenttheaveragemagnitudeofmagneticfieldofthespecificdirection.
PartII:DeterminetheRelationshipBetweentheMagneticFieldattheCenterofaSingle
CoilandtheCurrentThroughtheCoil
Thematerialsthatwereusedinthisexperimentwereanadjustablepowersupply,
Verniermagneticfieldsensor,LoggerPro,singlecoil,andVerniercomputerinterface.
Afterthepreparation,suchas,connectingthesinglecoiltothepowersupplyandplacing
themagneticfieldsensorhorizontallysoitcouldbeperpendiculartothecurrentafter
settingitto6.4mT,theBvaluewasabletobemeasured.Startingfromthecurrent
magnitudeof2Ato0.25A,themagnitudeofthemagneticfieldwasobtained.Foreach
measurement,themagneticfieldsensorwassettozerobyclicking0Zerobuttonfrom
LoggerPro.Afterthegraphwasillustratedthepowersupplyshouldbeturnedoffbefore
thenextmeasurement.AfterobtainingthegraphbasedoneachIvalue,themeanofthe
valuesofgraphwastakenbyclickingStatisticsbutton.
PartIII:MeasuretheMagneticFieldAlongtheLongitudinalAxisBetweentheTwo
CoilsofaHelmholtzSystem
SamematerialswereusedasPartIIoftheexperimentexceptoneadditionalcoil
wasused.Thesensorwasagainplacedhorizontallytobepositionedperpendicularlyto
thecurrent.Thepowersupplywassetto2.0AduringthisexperimenttoassignIvalueas
aconstant.Startingfromthe0.0mdistancebetweenthemagneticsensorandoneofthe

coilsto0.10m,themagnitudeofmagneticfieldwasmeasured.Againpowersupplyhad
tobeoffwhenthemagneticfieldwasnotmeasuredandforeveryexperiment,thesensor
hadtobesetto0.Toobtainthevalueofthemagneticfield,themeanvalueofthegraph
wascalculatedbyclickingStatisticsbuttonfromtheLoggerPro.
PartIV:MeasuretheMagneticFieldAroundaLongStraightConductorandCalculate
theValueof
The long straight conductor was connected to the power supply at the far right
corner of the lab room. After setting the power supply to 3 A and sensor to 0.3 mT, the
sensor was placed horizontally to the straight conductor so it could be positioned
perpendicularly to the current. Like the other experiments, the power supply should be off
when the magnetic field was not measured and when starting the measurement, the sensor
should be set to 0. The magnetic field value was measured starting from 1.0 cm away
from the conductor to 5.0 centimeter. Collect button was pressed when collecting the data
and magnitude of the magnetic field was obtained after calculating the means from each
graphs illustrated by Logger Pro.

Observations and Result

Part I Data table 1:

Geographica Magnetic
l Direction
field
North->
South
East-> west
Up-> down

Component
direction

0.01790

0.002245
-0.04071

+
-

Magnetic
field
magnitude
0.0445

Magnetic
field overall
direction
East of
north: 7.15
Below
horizontal:
67.9

=0.0445 mT
For direction:

East of north.

Below horizontal.
The direction of the compass was similar to that of the projection of the
magnetic field on horizontal plane.

Part II Data table 2:

Current in coil
2.00
1.75
1.50
1.25
1.00
0.75
0.50
0.25

Magnetic field
2.46
2.125
1.921
1.370
1.162
0.8751
0.5621
0.2643

Graph of magnetic field vs current in coil. The graph shows that there
is a positive linear correlation between magnetic field and the current
in coil, that is as current increases so does the magnetic field.

Part III Data table 3:

Current through
Distance
Magnetic field
the coils
between the
(mT)
sensor and one of
the coils (m)
1.3
0.00
2.012
0.01
2.129
0.02
2.223
0.03
2.295
0.04
2.297
0.05
2.349
0.06
2.315
0.07
2.331
0.08
2.415
0.09
2.396
0.10
2.386

Figure 3, the graph of magnetic field vs the distance between the sensor and one of the
coils. The field at any point between the coils is approximately independent of the
position of the point

Part IV Data table

Current through
the straight
conductor

4:
Distance from
the sensor and
center of the
conductor (m)

0.01
0.015
0.02
0.025
0.03
0.035
0.04
0.045
0.05

Reciprocal of
the distance
from the
sensor and
center of the
conductor
(1/m)
100
66.7
50
40
33.3
28.6
25
22.2
20

Magnetic field
(mT)

-0.1598
-0.0252
-0.0287
-0.01572
-0.01227
-0.01250
-0.0130
-0.008355
-0.008380

Figure 4, the graph of magnetic field vs the reciprocal of the distance

from the sensor and the center of the conductor. The slope of the
graph represents the permeability in air and that is equal to
0.0001649 mT/1/m comparing that value to that of vacuum
(1.256*10^-6) it is a much larger value so that magnetic field will be
larger in air than in vacuum.

In conclusion, our answers correctly answers the lab questions, and the
hypothesis projected was correct, because magnetic field did decrease with
decreasing the current and the results shown in table 2 supports it.
There are three possible sources of error for this lab. One is that the
magnetic field sensor could have rotated as we did the experiment. This
would have made our trials unreasonable to compare, as the sensor has
a different normal level as it is rotated. This could be alleviated by securing
the magnetic field sensor inside the coil. Another possible source of error is
that the current reading on the current sensor jumped around a lot, so we
werent sure if the current going through the wire was really what we
recorded it as. This could have skewed the data. This issue may be alleviated
by using a battery/current sensor that doesnt jump around a lot. A final
source of error could be that the direction of the coil moved during the
experiment. This would have influenced the magnetic field sensor because
the sensor has a different normal at each point on the compass. As a result,
our trials would be unreasonable to compare. This could be alleviated by
fixing the coil to the table so that it doesnt move.

References
Lanza, Roberto, and Meloni, Antonio. (2006). Earth's
Magnetism : An Introduction for Geologists.
Berlin/Heidelberg, DEU: Springer
Meissner, Rolf. (2002). Little Book of Planet Earth. New York,
NY, USA: Springer.
Concepts from the PCS130 textbook are referenced throughout the lab report:
Knight, Randall Dewey. "Kinematics in One Dimension." Physics for Scientists and
Engineers: A Strategic Approach. Third ed. San Francisco: Pearson/Addison Wesley,
2004. N. pag. Print.