BLOG ENTRY: Energy Generation Lab Analysis

BLOG ENTRY: Generator Lab

What was the goal of this lab?

The main objective of this lab was centered around Faraday’s Law. This law states that changing magnetic fluxes through coiled wires generate electricity. When you increase the changes in magnetic flux, the greater the currents and the voltages will be. Our lab was set up to allow us to explore this relationship between magnetic fluxes and current, and see the positive relationship between the two variables.

How did we do this?

For our lab, we would be analyzing this energy relationship with a shaking tube. Our shaking tube had a magnetic inside, along with a coil of wires. By seeing if more shakes would equate to a greater amount of voltage, we would confirm the findings of Faraday’s Law.

The Experiment

To permit the recordings of our data, we utilized LabView and an Excel spreadsheet to record the amount of shakes and the amount of voltage for each trial set. In total, we conducted nine different trials. For each set of three, we did a different number of shakes (from a fast pace, to a medium pace, and finally a slow pace). Each pace would be examined for 30 second intervals.

By looking at three different speeds of shaking the magnet, we were highlighting Faraday’s Law and exploring the relationship between the number of shakes and the amount of voltage produced. The amount of voltage recordings per shake was numerous, spanning well over 100 recordings. A sampling is shown below of one set of shakes:

Number of Shakes	Voltages
71	0.17776
71	0.34455
71	-0.13016
71	0.4087
71	0.06229
71	-0.05318
71	0.07512
71	-0.02752
71	0.12644
71	0.08795
71	-0.01469
71	0.11361
71	-0.04035
71	0.03663
71	0.06229
71	0.04946
71	0.03663
71	0.04946
71	-0.01469
71	-0.06601
71	-0.00186
71	-0.04035
71	-0.05318
71	-0.00186
71	0.03663
71	-0.05318
71	0.11361

However, we were able to make our analysis more manageable through our calculations. First and foremost, we utilized the sum of squares formula (simply squaring the voltage recording and then adding them up) to take out any negative recordings. The negative voltages would distort the relationship shown between those shakes and the energy produced. Furthermore, for each number of shakes set, we summed up these squared data entries. By summing up the data, we were able to look at the total amount of energy produced in each 30 second span. Shown below is our calculations of the squared voltages from the 71 shakes data sampling provided prior:

Voltages	Squared Voltage
0.17776	0.031598618
0.34455	0.118714703
-0.13016	0.016941626
0.4087	0.16703569
0.06229	0.003880044
-0.05318	0.002828112
0.07512	0.005643014
-0.02752	0.00075735
0.12644	0.015987074
0.08795	0.007735203
-0.01469	0.000215796
0.11361	0.012907232
-0.04035	0.001628123
0.03663	0.001341757
0.06229	0.003880044
0.04946	0.002446292
0.03663	0.001341757
0.04946	0.002446292
-0.01469	0.000215796
-0.06601	0.00435732
-0.00186	3.4596E-06
-0.04035	0.001628123
-0.05318	0.002828112
-0.00186	3.4596E-06
0.03663	0.001341757
-0.05318	0.002828112
0.11361	0.012907232

Lastly, we summed up the squared data from that sampling to come up with the total power produced with 71 shakes:

Number of Shakes	Sum of Squared Voltages
71	.425070219

 

Full Set of Calculations in Table Form

The data for each number of shakes is shown in a table below.

Number of Shakes	Sum of Squares (Power/Voltage)
71	0.42507
73	2.137622
71	2.532251
99	8.553348
110	10.1686
113	13.04881
50	1.844339
48	0.465344

What this table shows is the result of squaring each data entry of the 30 second intervals, and summing them up using an excel spreadsheet (as shown in the previous tables). A slight trend can be shown between the number of shakes and the amount of voltage. As a team, Rebecca and I recognized that our squared voltage sums were lower than the recordings of some other groups. However, we were still able to see the relationship in a graph.

What did our calculations show?

Following the summing of the squares of each pace of shaking, we put our data into a graph form. To show the relationship that Faraday’s Law was discussing, we plot a graph on Excel that had power on the y-axis and the number of shakes on the x-axis. To confirm Faraday’s Law, we expected to see a positive relationship. As stated in the law, the greater the magnetic flux, the greater the amount of power/voltage that is produced.

A graph of our data recordings is shown below:

The graph underscores the positive relationship between the number of shakes and the voltage produced. As we increased the number of shakes, the amount of energy increased.

Conclusion

This lab was a cool way to enhance our learning on energy generation, specifically highlighting Faraday’s Law. By conducting a series of different shake paces, we successfully confirmed the law’s findings. It was a little more stressful than usual because of some technical issues Rebecca and I had, but it all worked out in our favor!