Objective: In the lab, we performed an experiment testing Faraday’s Law, which states that any change in the magnetic field of the coil will cause a current to be induced in the coil.

Instruments: 1. Lego MindStorm Kit; 2. Voltmeter; 3. A linear induction or Faraday flashlight.

Procedures:

1. First, we measured the voltage when the flashlight was left undisturbed. This we did to account for some current that might have been already in the system or some changes in the magnetic field of the coil that were not due to the shaking of the flashlight.
2. We connected the Voltmeter to Lego MindStorm and the Faraday’s flashlight and shook the flashlight for 30 seconds and counted the number of shakes.
3. We performed step 2 for a different number of shakes.
4. We pulled up all the data in the excel sheet and sorted it out. We divided the measurements we got from the voltmeter into five columns: 0 shakes per second, 1 shake per second, 2.25 shakes per second, 3.33 shakes per second, and 4.33 shakes per second. We then took the sum of the squared measurements for each column. We used this technique of summing squared results because the current induced in the coil had a different charge for each shake and therefore the measurements we obtained had both negative and positive signs.
5. We then constructed a graph comparing the output to the number of shakes per second.

Analysis of the results: The data and the graph we obtained supports Faraday’s Law. As we increased the number of shakes per second we got the higher output; this proved our thesis that a change in magnetic field of the coil causes a current to be induced in it. We then concluded that the higher is the change in the magnetic field of the coil the more power is produced.

Relating the experiment to sustainability: The experiment was instructive in the way that it showed how electricity is produced and what physics laws rule the power generation. The nuclear plants, hydro-turbines, and fossil-fuel power stations are only an enlarged and more complicated copy of the experiment we produced in class. Faraday’s Law (Electromagnetic Induction Principle) lies behind most of the power plants. The basic principle is that mechanical energy is used to rotate a turbine, which then powers a generator (in some way similar to that we used in class because it also obeys to Faraday’s Law) that produces electricity. The mechanical energy that is used to rotate a turbine may be developed from heat engines (burning of fossil fuels), hydro, wind, and tidal power. The world as we know it today is mainly powered by this type of electricity generators. The primary drawback of the technology is its low efficiency as the energy has to be converted several times (e.g. energy has to be converted two times in the case of heat engines: first from heat to mechanical energy and then from mechanical energy to current). Also, this type of energy production is considered to contribute the most to the global warming as the fossil-fuel power stations use this method to produce electricity. Alternatives to electromagnetic induction method of generating electricity include electrochemistry, photovoltaic effect (solar cells), thermoelectric effect, piezoelectric effect, and nuclear transformation.