Eddy Currents and Lenz's Law

Also called

eddy currents · Lenz's law · magnet falling in a copper pipe · electromagnetic braking · electromagnetic damping · induction cooktop · induction furnace · slotted plate · pendulum in a magnetic field · Foucault currents · induced current opposes change · conservation of energy and induction · laminated core · भँवर धाराएँ · लेंज का नियम · विद्युत चुंबकीय प्रेरण · प्रेरण चूल्हा

Topics

• Lenz's law: an induced current flows in the direction that opposes the change in magnetic flux producing it.
• A magnet falling through a copper pipe induces currents in the wall that push back on it, so it sinks slowly.
• A non-magnetic slug induces nothing and falls freely through the same pipe.
• Eddy currents are induced in a bulk conductor when the magnetic flux through it changes…
• A solid metal plate swinging between magnet poles is braked by its eddy currents and soon comes to rest.
• Slots cut in the plate break up the current loops, so a slotted plate swings almost freely.
• Electromagnetic brakes on trains use eddy currents in the rail or wheel: smooth braking with no wearing parts.
• An induction cooktop drives an alternating current through a coil; eddy currents heat the metal pan base directly.
• Transformer and motor cores are laminated to limit eddy currents, which would otherwise waste energy as heat.

About this model

A GLB file of about 341 KB, shown in Lably's 3D viewer and, on a phone, placed in your room with AR. Credit: Model, science and animation: Lably (built procedurally with three.js; no downloaded meshes). | CC BY 4.0. Original geometry and animation made for Lably.

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