Generally, the galvanometer needle moves back and forth about its equilibrium position before coming to rest.
The applications of Eddy Currents are as follows:Įddy currents play an important role in designing deadbeat galvanometers. In stopping rotating power tools and rollercoasters, we use this resistance created by the opposing magnetic fields to generate eddy currents for braking purposes. These transform energy, such as kinetic energy or electrical energy, into heat. inversely proportional to the resistivity of the conductor.Įddy currents tend to oppose the change in the magnetic field producing it, and hence it causes loss of energy in a conductor.proportional to the rate of change of magnetic flux.proportional to the size of the magnetic field.For this to happen within a conductor, electrons swirl in a plane perpendicular to the magnetic field.
Thus, eddy currents may be created whenever a conductor experiences a change in the intensity or direction of a magnetic field.Īccording to Lenz’s Law, we know that the direction of induced current, much like an eddy current, will be such that the magnetic field produced by it will oppose the change in the magnetic field that produced it. Learn Exam Concepts on Embibe What Causes Eddy Currents?Įddy currents are generated when a conductor moves through a magnetic field or when the magnetic field surrounding a stationary conductor is varied. These induced eddy currents generated heat in the disk. He performed various experiments and concluded that the force needed to rotate a copper disk increases when its rim is placed between the poles of a magnet( like a horseshoe magnet). Then, Heinrich Lenz gave the Lenz law ten years later, but it wasn’t until \(1855\) that the French physicist Léon Foucault officially discovered eddy currents. The \(\) Prime Minister of France, François Arago, who was a mathematician, physicist and astronomer, was the first to observe Eddy currents in \(1824.\) He was the first person to witness the rotary magnetism, and he realized that it was possible to magnetize most conductive objects. These are also known as Foucault’s Currents. They flow in closed loops perpendicular to the plane of the magnetic field plane, induced by changing magnetic fields.
Eddy currents circulate in conductors like swirling eddies in a stream, and these are often set up in response to a changing magnetic field.