|
This exhibit demonstrates
the workings of a TRANSFORMER. Many people believe that you simply
put electricity into one end of a transformer and take it out of
the other end. This exhibit shows that the electric current actually
undergoes two transformations: first from electric current to a
magnetic field, and then back again from a magnetic field to an
electric current. The exhibit also shows that one can only transform
alternating current, not direct current, since the secondary coil
only responds to a changing magnetic field. The exhibit allows the
visitor to change the magnetic field by either changing the current
in the primary coil with a lever that controls the D.C. power supply,
or by leaving the current on and sliding the secondary coil into
and out of the primary coil's magnetic field. A regular bar magnet
is hung on the exhibit which the visitor can move into and out of
the secondary coil, resulting in the same response as if the primary
coil was being used. This demonstrates the equivalence of a magnetic
field produced by a current running in a coil and that of a permanent
magnet.
|
|
