To provide an interesting application of Faraday's law, Brad Hinaus and Mick Veum1 created an experiment constructing a scaled-up model of a computer hard drive. They mounted permanent magnets on a wooden disk. When the disk was spun, an emf was induced in a “read” head (solenoid) and recorded by a computer. I have found a way to do a similar experiment using only PASCO equipment.2
REFERENCES
1.
Brad
Hinaus
and Mick
Veum
, “The hard drive: An experiment for Faraday's law
,” Phys. Teach.
40
, 339
–341
(Sept. 2002
).2.
PASCO scientific, 10101 Foothills Blvd., Roseville, CA; http://www.pasco.com.
3.
Neodymium Magnets (uncoated), EM-8648.
4.
Solid Disk of the Rotational Inertia Accessory, ME-8953.
5.
Complete Rotational System, ME-8950Z.
6.
Rotational Motor Drive, ME-8955.
7.
Detector Coil (2000 turn), EM-6713.
8.
750 Interface (USB or SCSI),CI-6450.
9.
Voltage Sensor, CI-6503.
10.
Power Amplifier II, CE-6552-A.
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© 2005 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2005
American Association of Physics Teachers
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