Despite panicking yesterday because I couldn’t find our Vernier instrumentation amplifiers (I’m still not sure I even have some), I was able to find a way to measure the small voltages produced by the Vernier Faraday’s Law – Moving Magnet lab. Instead of the more appropriate instrumentation amplifiers, which I’ve added to my equipment wish list for next year, I used differential voltage probes from old Vernier DIN-based current and voltage kits. The resolution wasn’t great, but with a strong enough magnet, it was sufficient for students to see how the induced emf changes as a magnet is dropped through several loops of wire.
I start class by asking students to share their pre-lab sketch of flux vs. time. I capture them all on the whiteboard and tell them to verify which one is correct by analyzing the data collected in the lab. What I love about this lab is the connection that students make that the area of the potential vs. time graph is the change in magnetic flux. This is a great lab to finish our study of electricity and magnetism.
##equipment ##paradigmlab ##setbacks ##magnetism