Experimental Verification of

Electromagnetic Induction
and Lenz’s Law
PHYSICS INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

By: Yashasvie Chandra

He has taken keen interest and shown utmost

Principal School Seal

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 INDEX
Acknowledgement..............................................................................3
Aim.......................................................................................................4
Introduction........................................................................................5
Electromagnet...................................................................................5
Electromagnetic Induction..............................................................5
Magnetic flux....................................................................................5
Theory..................................................................................................7
Discovery...........................................................................................7
Induced e.m.f....................................................................................7
Lenz’s Law.........................................................................................7
Applications of Electromagnetic Induction......................................9
Electrical generator..........................................................................9
Electrical transformer......................................................................9
Faraday’s Experiment.........................................................................11
Materials required...........................................................................13
Procedure.........................................................................................14
Observation.....................................................................................14
Result................................................................................................15
Conclusion.......................................................................................15
Bibliography.......................................................................................17

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Acknowledgement
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my physics
teacher – Mrs. Usha Ramesh for encouraging and guiding
me in my project and provide valuable suggestions. I would
also like to extend my gratitude to the principal – Dr. H.S.
Vashistha and the senior secondary physics department of
my school, Delhi Public School, Nerul for providing me
with this opportunity to conduct this insightful project.
I would also like to thank my parents for their generous
support throughout my schooling.
I believe this small project will make a significant impact by
inspiring someone else to continue my research.

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Aim
To study the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction.

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Introduction
ELECTROMAGNET
An electromagnet is a type of magnet in which the electric
field is produced by current flowing through it. The
magnetic field disappears when current is no longer
flowing. Electromagnets usually consist of a wire wound
into a coil.
ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION
Electromagnetic induction is the production of an
electromotive force (emf) across an electric conductor in a
changing magnetic field. It is the phenomenon where a
potential difference is created across a conductor when the
magnetic flux linked with it changes.
Electromagnetic induction has many uses in electrical
components such as inductors and transformers as well as
devices like generators.
MAGNETIC FLUX

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The magnetic flux through a surface is defined as the
surface integral of the normal component of the magnetic
field, B over the surface. It is usually denoted Φ or ΦB.
The magnetic flux is the net number of field lines passing
through that surface; that is, the number passing through
in one direction minus the number passing through in the
other direction.
For a varying magnetic field, we first consider the magnetic
flux through an infinitesimal area element dS, where we
may consider the field to be constant:
dΦB = B.dS
A generic surface, S, can then be broken into infinitesimal
elements and the total magnetic flux through the surface is
then the surface integral
ΦB = ∫ B.dS
Magnetic flux is a scalar quantity and its S.I. unit is weber
(Wb)

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Theory
DISCOVERY
Michael Faraday is generally credited with the discovery of
electromagnetic induction in 1831 though it may have been
anticipated by the work of Francesco Zantedeschi, an
Italian physicist in 1829. It was discovered independently
by Joseph Henry in 1832.
INDUCED E.M.F.
If magnetic flux is through a coil is altered, an e.m.f will be
induced in the coil. An e.m.f. can be induced by:
 Moving the coil or the source of flux relative to each
other.
 Changing the magnitude of the source of magnetic flux
in some way.
LENZ’S LAW
Lenz’s law states that the direction of electric current
induced in a conductor by a changing magnetic field is
such that the magnetic field due to the induced current
opposes the change in the initial magnetic field. It is named

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after physicist Emil Lenz, who formulated it in 1834.
Lenz’s law specifies the direction of induced current but
says nothing about the magnitude.
Lenz's law may be seen as analogous to Newton's third law
in classical mechanics and Le Chatelier's principle in
chemistry.

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Applications of Electromagnetic Induction
ELECTRICAL GENERATOR
An electrical generator works on the principle of
electromagnetic induction. A conducting coil is rotated in a
magnetic field which induces an e.m.f. across the ends of
the wires of the coil. When the wires are connected to an
electrical load, current flows. Thus, electrical energy is
generated from mechanical energy.

ELECTRICAL TRANSFORMER
The e.m.f. due to electromagnetic induction is also the
principle of an electrical transformer. When electric
current in one current carrying coil changes, it creates a
changing magnetic field. A second coil in reach of this

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magnetic field will experience this change in magnetic field
as change in its magnetic flux, dΦB/dt. Thus, an e.m.f is set
up in the second coil called transformer e.m.f. If two ends

of this second coil are connected to an electrical load,

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Faraday’s Experiment
 Around 1830, physicist Michael Faraday performed a
series of experiments and based on the results, gave a
law on induction.
 He discovered the phenomenon of electromagnetic
induction.
 Induction means to induce or generate something.
 Electromagnetic induction means generation of
electric current by a magnetic field.
 Magnetic field can produce a current in a conductor.
 Faraday took a coil and attached a galvanometer to it.
 Since, there is no battery, there is no potential
difference and thus no current.
 Then, he brought a magnet near the coil.
 When the magnet is brought towards the coil, the
galvanometer showed a deflection.
 The galvanometer showed a deflection in the opposite
direction when the magnet was moved away from the
coil.
 When magnet was not moving, there was no deflection
in the galvanometer.

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 Faster the magnet was moved, more was the deflection
in the galvanometer. More current flowed when the
magnet was moved faster
 Same effect was observed when the coil was moved
keeping the magnet stationary.
 This showed that current in the coil was related to the
magnetic field of the magnet.

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MATERIALS REQUIRED
Bar magnet, galvanometer, coil and connecting wires.

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PROCEDURE
1. Take a coil of wire having a large number of turns.
2. Connect the ends of the coil to a galvanometer.
3. Take a strong bar magnet and move its north pole into
the coil and observe the changes in the galvanometer
needle.
4. Repeat step 3 with south pole of the bar magnet.
5. Now repeat the process with coil having different
number of turns and note the variation in deflection of
the galvanometer needle.
OBSERVATION
1. When we move the magnet in or out of the coil, the
galvanometer shows deflections in opposite directions.
2. When the north pole of the magnet is inserted, the
deflection is towards right.
3. When the south pole of the magnet is inserted, the
deflection is towards left.
4. When the magnet is moved in or out of the coil with
varying speed, the speed of deflection varies
accordingly.
5. As the number of turns in the coils is increases, the
deflection increases.

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 6. Relative motion between the magnet and the coil
induces a current in the coil
RESULT
1. The deflection of galvanometer needle shows the
presence of current in the coil.
2. The direction of deflection gives the direction of flow
of current.
3. The speed of deflection of galvanometer needle gives
the rate at which current is induced.
4. The deflection in galvanometer needle changes with
change in number of turns in the coil – more number
of turns causes more deflection.
CONCLUSION
From this experiment, Faraday concluded that whenever
there is relative motion between a conductor and a
magnetic field, the magnetic flux linked with the conductor
changes and this change in flux induces a voltage across
the ends of the conductor.
Lenz’s law can also be verified using this experiment. When
north pole of the magnet was brought towards the coil, the
galvanometer needle deflected towards right, indicating an

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anticlockwise current in the coil and the end towards the
magnet behaves as north.
Similarly, when north pole of the magnet was moved away
from the coil, the galvanometer needle was deflected
towards left, indicating a clockwise current in the coil and
the end towards the magnet behaves as south.
The opposite was the case when the south pole of the
magnet was used. When brought towards the coil, the
galvanometer showed a deflection towards left and when
the magnet was moved away from the coil, towards right.
Hence, the induced current is always opposing the change
in magnetic flux which produces it, in accordance with
Lenz’s law.

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Bibliography
 NCERT class 12 physics textbook.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Electromagnetic_induction
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenz%27s_law

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