Generator Lab (Fail)

In this lab we tested Faraday’s Law which states that electricity or currents and voltage are generated by changing magnetic fluxes through coiled wires. We were given a tube which was equipped with a magnet that moved back and forth through the coil of wires within the tube. The purpose of all this was to prove that more voltage would be generated with faster shaking.

This is the step-by-step process of the experiment:

1. Shake the tube at a particular rate.
2. Count the number of shakes in the data collecting interval
3. Calculate in Excel the sum of the squares of the voltages (SSVs)

We had 30 seconds to shake the generator tube as many times as we could as long as we kept track of the number of shakes. It seems easy enough however trying to shake a generator tube with the force of Goliath while trying to recite your 1-2-3s at the speed of light is p-ret-ty challenging.

Now I know this is a science class but all I could think of while shaking a generator tube that looked like this:

Was this:

My group decided to be overachievers and instead of conducting 5 tests we did 6! I know, I know [pats self on back]

The first time out the gate we shook the shake weight generator tube at the greatest rate: 83 times. The second we wanted to see what would happen [read we were being lazy] and did not shake the tube at all so: 0 times. The third: 53 times; fourth: 46 times; fifth: 34 times; sixth: 47 times.

The sum of the squares of the voltages was as follows:
First: 73.26246
Second: 99.51914
Third: 45.79768
Fourth: 64.46607
Fifth: 24.7404
Sixth: 73.25632

What should have happened is that the tests with the greatest number of shakes would have the greatest SSVs. But if I order the results according to the greatest number of shakes compared to the greatest SSVs the two don’t match. Take a look see:

Second: 0 shakes                                                                               Fifth: 24.7404
Fifth: 34 shakes                                                                                 Third: 45.79768
Fourth: 46 shakes                                                                             Fourth: 64.46607
Sixth: 47 shakes                                                                                 Sixth: 73.25632
Third: 53 shakes                                                                                First: 73.26246
First: 83 shakes                                                                                 Second: 99.51914

Worse than the results not lining up is that the test with the least number of shakes has the greatest SSV. My uneducated guess is that we built up so much electricity in our first run with the 83 shakes that most of it still lingered around in the next few seconds when we didn’t shake the tube at all.

All in all, this lab was a bust and my results inconclusive. I’ll have to get back to you all on what went wrong or just how the results could be further explained. Either way I had a good time with the experiment and got a great work out in — two birds with one stone.

So check back soon for an update on this one and hopefully I’ll have some much needed answers for you guys!