Introduction

The property of self-inductance is a particular form of electromagnetic induction. Self

inductance is defined as the induction of a voltage in a current-carrying wire when the
current in the wire itself is changing. In the case of self-inductance, the magnetic field
created by a changing current in the circuit itself induces a voltage in the same circuit.
Therefore, the voltage is self-induced.

The term inductor is used to describe a circuit element possessing the property of
inductance and a coil of wire is a very common inductor. In circuit diagrams, a coil or
wire is usually used to indicate an inductive component. Taking a closer look at a coil
will help understand the reason that a voltage is induced in a wire carrying a changing
current. The alternating current running through the coil creates a magnetic field in and
around the coil that is increasing and decreasing as the current changes. The magnetic
field forms concentric loops that surround the wire and join to form larger loops that
surround the coil as shown in the image below. When the current increases in one loop
the expanding magnetic field will cut across some or all of the neighboring loops of wire,
inducing a voltage in these loops. This causes a voltage to be induced in the coil when the
current is changing.

By studying this image of a coil, it can be seen that the number of turns in the coil will
have an effect on the amount of voltage that is induced into the circuit. Increasing the
number of turns or the rate of change of magnetic flux increases the amount of induced
voltage. Therefore, Faraday's Law must be modified for a coil of wire and becomes the
following.

1
Where:

VL = induced voltage in volts

N = number of turns in the coil
dø/dt = rate of change of magnetic flux in
webers/second

The equation simply states that the amount of induced voltage (VL) is proportional to the
number of turns in the coil and the rate of change of the magnetic flux (dø/dt). In other
words, when the frequency of the flux is increased or the number of turns in the coil is
increased, the amount of induced voltage will also increase.

In a circuit, it is much easier to measure current than it is to measure magnetic flux, so the
following equation can be used to determine the induced voltage if the inductance and
frequency of the current are known. This equation can also be reorganized to allow the
inductance to be calculated when the amount of inducted voltage can be determined and
the current frequency is known.

Where:

VL = the induced voltage in volts

L = the value of inductance in henries
di/dt = the rate of change of current in amperes per second

Lenz's Law

Soon after Faraday proposed his law of induction, Heinrich Lenz developed a rule for
determining the direction of the induced current in a loop. Basically, Lenz's law states
that an induced current has a direction such that its magnetic field opposes the
change in magnetic field that induced the current. This means that the current induced
in a conductor will oppose the change in current that is causing the flux to change. Lenz's
law is important in understanding the property of inductive reactance, which is one of the
properties measured in eddy current testing.

Inductive Reactance

The reduction of current flow in a circuit due to induction is called inductive reactance.
By taking a closer look at a coil of wire and applying Lenz's law, it can be seen how
inductance reduces the flow of current in the circuit. In the image below, the direction of
the primary current is shown in red, and the magnetic field generated by the current is
shown in blue. The direction of the magnetic field can be determined by taking your right

2
hand and pointing your thumb in the direction of the current. Your fingers will then point
in the direction of the magnetic field. It can be seen that the magnetic field from one loop
of the wire will cut across the other loops in the coil and this will induce current flow
(shown in green) in the circuit. According to Lenz's law, the induced current must flow in
the opposite direction of the primary current. The induced current working against the
primary current results in a reduction of current flow in the circuit.

It should be noted that the inductive reactance will increase if the number of winds in the
coil is increased since the magnetic field from one coil will have more coils to interact
with.

Similarly to resistance, inductive reactance reduces the flow of current in a circuit.

However, it is possible to distinguish between resistance and inductive reactance in a
circuit by looking at the timing between the sine waves of the voltage and current of the
alternating current. In an AC circuit that contains only resistive components, the voltage
and the current will be in-phase, meaning that the peaks and valleys of their sine waves
will occur at the same time. When there is inductive reactance present in the circuit, the
phase of the current will be shifted so that its peaks and valleys do not occur at the same
time as those of the voltage. This will be discussed in more detail in the section on
circuits.

Aim: To study the factors on which the self inductance of a coil depends by observing
the effect of this coil when put in series with a resistor in a circuit fed by an AC source of
adjustable frequency.

Apparatus Required:
 A coil of large no. of turns

3
An electromagnetic coil is an electrical conductor such as a wire in the shape of a coil,
spiral or helix. Electromagnetic coils are used in electrical engineering, in applications
where electric currents interact with magnetic fields, in devices such as electric motors,
generators, inductors, electromagnets, transformers, and sensor coils. Either an electric
current is passed through the wire of the coil to generate a magnetic field, or conversely
an external time-varying magnetic field through the interior of the coil generates an EMF
(voltage) in the conductor.

A current through any conductor creates a circular magnetic field around the conductor
due to Ampere's law. The advantage of using the coil shape is that it increases the
strength of magnetic field produced by a given current. The magnetic fields generated by
the separate turns of wire all pass through the center of the coil and add (superpose) to
produce a strong field there. The more turns of wire, the stronger the field produced.
Conversely, a changing external magnetic flux induces a voltage in a conductor such as a
wire, due to Faraday's law of induction. The induced voltage can be increased by winding
the wire into a coil, because the field lines intersect the circuit multiple times.

 AC source of adjustable Frequency

Alternating current (ac) is the flow of electric charge that periodically reverses
direction. An ac is produced by an alternating emf, which is generated in a power
plant, as described in Induced Electric Fields. If the ac source varies periodically,
particularly sinusoidally, the circuit is known as an ac circuit.

 AC ammeter of suitable range,

4
An ammeter (from Ampere Meter) is a measuring instrument used to measure the
current in a circuit. Electric currents are measured in amperes (A), hence the name.
Instruments used to measure smaller currents, in the milliampere or microampere
range, are designated as milliammeters or microammeters. Early ammeters were
laboratory instruments which relied on the Earth's magnetic field for operation. By the
late 19th century, improved instruments were designed which could be mounted in
any position and allowed accurate measurements in electric power systems. It is
generally represented by letter 'A' in a circle.

 Rheostat

 Rheostat is a variable resistor, which is used to control the flow of electric current
by manually increasing or decreasing the resistance. The English scientist Sir
Charles Wheatstone coined the word rheostat, it is derived from the Greek word
“rheos” and “-statis” which means a stream controlling device or a current
controlling device.

 A soft iron Rod

5
 A magnetic core is a piece of magnetic material with a high permeability used to
confine and guide magnetic fields in electrical, electromechanical and magnetic
devices such as electromagnets, transformers, electric motors, generators, inductors,
magnetic recording heads, and magnetic assemblies. It is made of ferromagnetic metal
such as iron, or ferrimagnetic compounds such as ferrites. The high permeability,
relative to the surrounding air, causes the magnetic field lines to be concentrated in
the core material. The magnetic field is often created by a coil of wire around the core
that carries a current. The presence of the core can increase the magnetic field of a
coil by a factor of several thousand over what it would be without the core. The use of
a magnetic core can enormously concentrate the strength and increase the effect of
magnetic fields produced by electric currents and permanent magnets. The properties
of a device will depend crucially on the following factors: ▪ the geometry of the
magnetic core. ▪ the amount of air gap in the magnetic circuit. ▪ the properties of the
core material. ▪ the operating temperature of the core.

 One way key

Electrical switches are very simple devices that are used to turn things on and off. The
most common type of switches is the one that we use to turn our lights on and off. Very
little has changed in how switches work since when they were invented. Although there
are many types of switches, we are more accustomed to one-way and two-way electrical
6
switches. The main difference between them is the number of contacts that they have. A
one-way switch only has two contacts while a two-way switch has three.

A one-way switch basically operates as a make or break switch. When it is turned on, the
two terminals are connected, and when it is turned off, the contact between the two is
broken. In contrast, a two-way switch is basically two, one-way switches combined into
one. One of the terminals can be connected to either of the remaining two but not both at
the same time. When you want to make a connection with one terminal, the connection
with the other is broken.

One advantage of two-way switches is allowing the control of a single device like a light
from two locations; typically used in long hallways so you do not have to walk all the
way to the other end in total darkness. This is achieved by wiring the two terminals of the
two switches together so that a path is established when the switches are in the same
orientation and none when they are not.

 Connecting wires

A wire is a single, usually cylindrical, flexible strand or rod of metal. Wires are used to
bear mechanical loads or electricity and telecommunications signals. Wire is commonly
formed by drawing the metal through a hole in a die or draw plate. Wire gauges come in
various standard sizes, as expressed in terms of a gauge number. The term wire is also
used more loosely to refer to a bundle of such strands, as in “ multistranded wire”, which
is more correctly termed a wire rope in mechanics, or a cable in electricity.

Wire comes in solid core, stranded, or braided forms. Although usually circular in cross-
section, wire can be made in square, hexagonal, flattened rectangular or other cross-
sections, either for decorative purposes, or for technical purposes such as high-efficiency
voice coils in loudspeakers. Edge-wound coil springs, such as the Slinky toy, are made of
special flattened wire

 An electric bulb

7
electric lamp consisting of a transparent or translucent glass housing containing a wire
filament (usually tungsten) that emits light when heated by electricity

Theory:

 Self Inductance:
It is a phenomenon where growth and decay of current is opposed due to
change in magnetic flux between diff. layers of a coil, there is a self
induced emf developed which opposes the source emf.
∂Ø α ∂I
∂t ∂t
Or, ∂Ø = L ∂I , where L is a
∂t ∂t constant of proportionality called
Coefficient of Self Inductance.
From Laws of Electromagnetic Induction,
E = -L ∂Ø
∂t
Thus, self induction is Self Induced EMF developed due to rate of change of current.

Suppose we have an Inductor(solenoid) of length ‘L’ having no of turns ’N’ connected to

a source where current is 0 at t=0, then due to change of flux, a local emf is developed,
Ø= L.I …..(1)
Again,
Ø=BNA,
For a Solenoid,
B= µoNI
l
Thus,
µ0 N^2IA
Ø= ……. (2)
𝑙
Equating 1 and 2,

8
 µ0 N^2A
L=
l
Thus, co-efficient of self inductance is independent of current, but, depends on the no. of
turns as well as length of solenoid.

Circuit Diagram:

Procedure:

 Made all the connections as shown in the circuit diagram.

 Switched on the AC supply and adjusted the constant current in the circuit by
using the rheostat.
 Recorded the current in AC ammeter and checked the brightness of the bulb
 The soft iron rod was put inside the inductor and the current passing through the
ammeter was recorded. The current and Brightness both decreases.
 Switched off the supply and decreased the frequency of the AC source.
 Again switched on the supply and adjusted the current in the circuit at a constant
voltage by using a rheostat. Noted the readings of the ammeter and checked the
brightness of the bulb. The current and the brightness decreases.
 Again inserted the iron rod in the core and noted the current and observed the
brightness of the bulb. Both decrease.

Observations:

 LEAST COUNT OF AMMETER: 0.05A

 RANGE OF AMMETER: 0 - 5A

9
 S.NO FREQUENCY OF CURRENT IN CURRENT IN
APPLIED VOLTAGE AMMETER WITHOUT AMMETER
IRON ROD WITH IRON
ROD
1. 60 2 1.8
2. 50 2.5 2.3
3. 40 2.9 2.6
4. 30 3.4 3.25
5. 20 4.1 4

Result:
 The current in the circuit decreases on inserting the iron rod in the core at
constant frequency of applied voltage and brightness of bulb decreases and
vice versa.
 The current in the circuit increases on decreasing the frequency applied
voltage and vice versa. Hence, the brightness of bulb increases.

Precautions:
 The coil should have large no. of turns.
 Current should be passed for a small time to avoid the heating effect.

Sources of Error:
 The resistance of circuit may increase slightly due to heating effect of
current.
 There may be eddy current in soft iron coil.

Bibliography:

 COMPREHENSIVE LABORATORY MANUAL OF Physics

 APC Publication
 GRB PUBLICATION- PHYSICS CLASS XII

WEBSITES

10
 www.icbse.com
 www.google.com
 www.wikipedia.com

11