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Another application of electromagnetic induction is when electrical signals need to be transmitted across a barrier. Consider the cochlear implant shown below. Sound is picked up by a microphone on the outside of the skull and is used to set up a varying magnetic field. A current is induced in a receiver secured in the bone beneath the skin and transmitted to electrodes in the inner ear. Electromagnetic induction can be used in other instances where electric signals need to be conveyed across various media.

Photograph of a baby with a device attached on its lower part of the head, just above the right ear.
Electromagnetic induction used in transmitting electric currents across mediums. The device on the baby’s head induces an electrical current in a receiver secured in the bone beneath the skin. (credit: Bjorn Knetsch)

Another contemporary area of research in which electromagnetic induction is being successfully implemented (and with substantial potential) is transcranial magnetic simulation. A host of disorders, including depression and hallucinations can be traced to irregular localized electrical activity in the brain. In transcranial magnetic stimulation , a rapidly varying and very localized magnetic field is placed close to certain sites identified in the brain. Weak electric currents are induced in the identified sites and can result in recovery of electrical functioning in the brain tissue.

Sleep apnea (“the cessation of breath”) affects both adults and infants (especially premature babies and it may be a cause of sudden infant deaths [SID]). In such individuals, breath can stop repeatedly during their sleep. A cessation of more than 20 seconds can be very dangerous. Stroke, heart failure, and tiredness are just some of the possible consequences for a person having sleep apnea. The concern in infants is the stopping of breath for these longer times. One type of monitor to alert parents when a child is not breathing uses electromagnetic induction. A wire wrapped around the infant’s chest has an alternating current running through it. The expansion and contraction of the infant’s chest as the infant breathes changes the area through the coil. A pickup coil located nearby has an alternating current induced in it due to the changing magnetic field of the initial wire. If the child stops breathing, there will be a change in the induced current, and so a parent can be alerted.

Making connections: conservation of energy

Lenz’s law is a manifestation of the conservation of energy. The induced voltage produces a current that opposes the change in flux, because a change in flux means a change in energy. Energy can enter or leave, but not instantaneously. Lenz’s law is a consequence. As the change begins, the law says induction opposes and, thus, slows the change. In fact, if the induced voltage were in the same direction as the change in flux, there would be a positive feedback that would give us free energy from no apparent source—conservation of energy would be violated.

Section summary

  • Faraday’s law of induction states that the emf induced by a change in magnetic flux is
    V = N Δ Φ Δ t

    when flux changes by Δ Φ size 12{ΔΦ} {} in a time Δ t size 12{Δt} {} .

  • If voltage is induced in a coil, N is its number of turns.
  • The minus sign means that the induced voltage creates a current I size 12{I} {} and magnetic field B size 12{B} {} that oppose the change in flux Δ Φ size 12{ΔΦ} {} —this opposition is known as Lenz’s law.

Conceptual questions

A person who works with large magnets sometimes places her head inside a strong field. She reports feeling dizzy as she quickly turns her head. How might this be associated with induction?

A particle accelerator sends high-velocity charged particles down an evacuated pipe. Explain how a coil of wire wrapped around the pipe could detect the passage of individual particles. Sketch a graph of the voltage output of the coil as a single particle passes through it.

Problems&Exercises

Referring to [link] (a), what is the direction of the current induced in coil 2: (a) If the current in coil 1 increases? (b) If the current in coil 1 decreases? (c) If the current in coil 1 is constant?

Part a of the diagram shows two single loop coils. Coil one and coil two are held vertically. Coil one has a current I in anti clockwise direction. Part b of the diagram shows a wire held vertical with a current flowing in upward direction. There is a single loop coil next to it held vertically.
(a) The coils lie in the same plane. (b) The wire is in the plane of the coil

(a) CCW

(b) CW

(c) No current induced

Referring to [link] (b), what is the direction of the current induced in the coil: (a) If the current in the wire increases? (b) If the current in the wire decreases? (c) If the current in the wire suddenly changes direction?

Repeat the previous problem with the battery reversed.

Verify that the units of Δ Φ size 12{ΔΦ} {} / Δ t size 12{Δt} {} are volts. That is, show that 1 T m 2 / s = 1 V size 12{1`T cdot m rSup { size 8{2} } /s=1`V} {} .

Suppose a 50-turn coil lies in the plane of the page in a uniform magnetic field that is directed into the page. The coil originally has an area of 0.250 m 2 . It is stretched to have no area in 0.100 s. What is the direction and magnitude of the induced voltage if the uniform magnetic field has a strength of 1.50 T?

(a) An MRI technician moves his hand from a region of very low magnetic field strength into an MRI scanner’s 2.00 T field with his fingers pointing in the direction of the field. Find the average voltage induced in his wedding ring, given its diameter is 2.20 cm and assuming it takes 0.250 s to move it into the field. (b) Discuss whether this current would significantly change the temperature of the ring.

(a) 3.04 mV
(b) As a lower limit on the ring, estimate R = 1.00 mΩ. The heat transferred will be 2.31 mJ. This is not a significant amount of heat.

A voltage is induced by rotating a 1000-turn, 20.0 cm diameter coil in the Earth’s 5 . 00 × 10 5 T size 12{5 "." "00" times "10" rSup { size 8{ - 5} } `T} {} magnetic field. What average voltage is induced, given the plane of the coil is originally perpendicular to the Earth’s field and is rotated to be parallel to the field in 10.0 ms?

0.157 V

A 0.250 m radius, 500-turn coil is rotated one-fourth of a revolution in 4.17 ms, originally having its plane perpendicular to a uniform magnetic field. (This is 60 rev/s.) Find the magnetic field strength needed to induce an average voltage of 10,000 V.

Practice Key Terms 2

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Source:  OpenStax, Concepts of physics. OpenStax CNX. Aug 25, 2015 Download for free at https://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11738/1.5
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