What happens when a conductor moves through a magnetic field?
A potential difference is induced across its ends.
When a straight conductor is moved so that it cuts the lines of a magnetic field, the free electrons inside it experience a magnetic force along its length.
This force pushes electrons toward one end, leaving the other end relatively positive, so charges separate until an electric field balances the magnetic force.
The separated charges set up a potential difference, called the induced EMF, between the two ends of the conductor, in accordance with Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction.
The magnetic field itself is not strengthened by the motion, and no light or significant heating is produced unless the conductor forms part of a closed circuit carrying a large current.
Hence, moving a conductor through a magnetic field induces a potential difference across its ends.
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Important Questions from Magnetism
- The magnetic field around a straight current-carrying conductor:
Magnetic field is a quantity that has___________________ .
- The right-hand thumb rule is used to find which of the following?
- How are the magnetic field lines arranged inside a current-carrying solenoid?
- What does it mean when magnetic field lines are drawn closer together in a diagram?
