PH151 (I)

2014/05/20
Student id: 20130857
Name: Yurchenko Oleg
Group #4(2)
Coworkers: Professor: Do-Jun Youm

Experiment #10

Measuring the Earths Magnetic Field

Objectives:
1.
2.

Determination of the components of the Earths magnetic field.

Determination of the inclination of the Earths magnetic field.

Theory:

When circular induction coil with turns and an area of = 2 rotates at a constant angular velocity
in a homogenous magnetic field around its diameter as an axis, it is permeated by a magnetic flux

= 2 ()

where is the angular velocity, R is the radius of the induction coil, and N is the turns of the induction coil.
Previous equation assumes that the axis of rotation is perpendicular to the magnetic field B. The magnetic field B
can be determined from the amplitude of induced voltage by

=
Using the revolution time

= 2 ()

, find the following for the peak value of the induced AC voltage:
2 2
=

=
2 2

For a rotation of the coil around the z-direction of a Cartesian coordinate system the voltage amplitude

= 2
Is induced in the Earths magnetic field

= ( )

For reasons of symmetry, the following equation apply for orientations in x- or y- direction

= 2

= 2

The components of the Earths magnetic field can be calculated by resolving the system of previous equations

2
2

2 2
=
2
=

2 2
2

For the total value of the Earths magnetic field, we obtain:

=
The angle of the dip

of the Earths magnetic field can be obtained by the following relation:

( )=

2 2
2

Procedure:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Place the experiment motor on the corner of the bench.

Use two twisted connecting leads for the connection between the V-box and the induction loop.
Turn on the motor and record the curve
Determine the frequency and the amplitude of the induced voltage.
Obtain components of the Earths magnetic field, the Earths magnetic field itself, and the angle of the dip
of the Earths magnetic field.

Results:
=

=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
Real value of B is
(this value is obtained using World Magnetic Model, the link on WMD
calculator is given in references).
Error of B is 13.4 %.
The angle of the dip of the Earths magnetic field is 23.4.
The theoretical value is 52.5 (error 55.2%).

Discussion:
In this experiment we became familiar with the theory of magnetic fields and magnetic fields itself. During
the experiment we measured the voltage induced by the flux through the Helmholtz coils and obtained the
magnetic field of the Earth. As we can see, calculated value is smaller than the theoretical one. This error might be
caused by additional magnetic field of the wires near the coils or by magnetic fields of other electronic devices. As
a result, the vector sum of all magnetic fields in the room could happen to be less than the magnetic field of the
Earth. Also, the magnetic field is affected by magnetized steel parts near the coil. All this factors also affects not
only the strength of the magnetic field, but also affects its direction.

Conclusion:
In this work we observed the induction phenomenon by changing the area through which the flux flowed
and obtained the magnetic field of the Earth. From the result we can see that the magnetic field is strongly
affected by environment, so it led to number of errors.

References:
General Physics Laboratory 1 Manual
WMD calculator 2010 http://www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk/data_service/models_compass/wmm_calc.html