Revisiting Faraday’s Law: A Fresh Perspective Using Neodymium Magnets Moving Under Natural Motion Laws

Abstract

Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction is one of the four Maxwell’s equations, presented here in vector notation. Its discovery paved the way for a second industrial revolution based on machines powered by electricity. Roughly speaking, it states that the negative (a Lenz‘s contribution) of the temporal rate of change of magnetic fields acts as a source for an electric field of rotational nature. In this paper, we discuss readily replicable experiments demonstrating Faraday’s law in action, using the motion of a neodymium magnet under three natural motions: i) free fall under gravity; ii) pendular motion under gravity and iii) the magnet placed at the free end of a vibrating ruler. Due to their simplicity, these systems allow for a complete theoretical treatment. We consider more than one way of calculating the induced voltage in a circular coil, by the magnet in motion. This way, students can benefit from the multidisciplinary aspects, connecting the knowledge of kinematics of motion and the electrodynamics of particles in motion. The experimental data was obtained using an oscilloscope and contrasted to the theoretical predictions. In practice, these experiments can be used to estimate the magnetic dipole moment of a permanent magnet.