Barkhausen pulse area 2026-10-18
Write the magnetic flux linkage of the stationary pickup coil as , in SI units of weber. If every turn links the same magnetic flux , then ; the turn count is dimensionless. With a fixed winding and terminal convention, Faraday's law of induction gives the induced electromotive forceThis is the fundamental theorem of calculus applied to magnetic flux linkage. Its units are , not volts alone. Reversing the leads reverses the sign. In a high-input-electrical resistance voltage measurement the input approximately follows this electromotive force; coil loading and the frequency response of the electronics require separate calibration.
Separate direct drive linkage from material linkage: . Even an empty pickup coil has . In an ideal long, uniformly coupled specimen with negligible demagnetizing field correction and eddy current shielding, a useful material approximation isHere is specimen cross-sectional area, not the larger coil aperture; is vacuum permeability and the axial magnetization sampled by the coil. The units check directly: . Finite geometry and nonuniform magnetization generally require a calibrated coupling in place of . The exact linkage identity survives that failure of the uniform approximation.
As an original illustrative calculation, stipulate , , and rounded . ThenA uniform change over would give a rectangular pulse of ; over it gives with the same area. Thus pulse height mixes change size with change speed. These numbers describe an ideal model, not observed pulses or material constants.
Coupled inductors Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Coupled inductors are inductors whose magnetic flux linkages depend on each other's electric currents. A two-circuit linear model uses two self-inductances and a mutual inductance.
Coupled RL induction model 2026-10-18
Take two electrical circuits containing coupled inductors. Let their constant self-inductances be , mutual inductance , and positive electrical resistances . Choose current directions so that the off-diagonal entries of the inductance matrix are . Assume a linear, quasistatic model, with no capacitive effects or core hysteresis. The magnetic flux linkages are and . Combining their time derivatives with resistive electric potential differences givesThe secondary is a closed, undriven electrical circuit. Require , making a positive-definite matrix. The chosen current convention fixes the signs; reversing the secondary's reference direction changes the sign assigned to and without changing the physical circuit.
There is an essential switching assumption: the primary loop remains closed when becomes zero. An ideal voltage source then imposes zero electric potential difference, allowing the current to decay. Literally opening an inductive circuit requires additional physics to determine the interruption, including possible capacitance and an electric arc. This closed-return model explains transient induction while keeping that distinction from Faraday's historical making and breaking of contact explicit.
Electromagnetic coil Created 2026-10-24 Updated 2026-10-31
An electromagnetic coil is a wound electrical conductor whose turns add their magnetic fields and magnetic flux linkages. For closely spaced equivalent turns carrying the same electric current, the magnetic field is the single-turn result multiplied by the number of turns.
Faraday induction-ring experiment 2026-10-18
Michael Faraday's induction ring separates two questions: can one electrical circuit affect another without an electrical connection, and does that effect continue under steady conditions? The surviving apparatus uses insulated copper windings around an iron ring; the Royal Institution dates the successful experiment to 29 August 1831.[ref]
Michael Faraday's ring-coil apparatus by Royal Institution. Collection record, date, materials and Description
Faraday connected one winding group to a battery, the other to a galvanometer. Making battery contact deflected the needle; maintaining contact let it return to rest; breaking contact reversed the response. Reversing the battery reversed the deflections. His separate cylinder comparison enhanced induction with iron, whereas replacing it with copper gave no enhancement over the windings alone.[ref]
Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 by Michael Faraday. First Series, §§27–30, ring, connections and reversal; §§34–35, distinct cylinder comparison
The contrast between a switching response and a quiet steady state makes mutual induction tangible. A steady primary electric current can maintain magnetic flux without sustaining a secondary electromotive force. Changes in magnetic flux linkage matter, as expressed by Faraday's law of induction. This is why a driven electrical transformer uses repeated changes in magnetic flux to supply secondary power.
The galvanometer readout of an induction pulse also separates the measured motion from the inferred electric current. Its moment of inertia and damping mean that a deflection is not an instantaneous trace of electric current. The following coupled RL induction model calculates currents in a stipulated circuit, rather than fitting Faraday's needle motion or reconstructing his switching times.
Faraday's law of induction Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-18
Faraday's law of induction relates a changing magnetic field to circulation of the electric field. For a fixed oriented surface with boundary , choose the positive direction around by the right-hand rule: the fingers follow while the thumb follows the chosen unit normal. The fixed-loop electromagnetic electromotive force isThe final derivative of magnetic flux is an ordinary time derivative, with the surface held fixed. Reversing both the unit normal and the boundary direction reverses both signs. The loop may be an imagined path: the field law does not require a wire or an electric current. [ref]
https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_17.html#Ch17-S1. Feynman lectures, II.17.1: electric-field circulation and induction
.For a computed example, a fixed single-turn loop has area and out-of-page unit normal. Prescribe an external uniform magnetic field in that direction with for . ThenIn a quasistatic resistive model with electrical resistance , neglect the loop's self-inductance and its own contribution to changing magnetic flux. Ohm's law givesThe magnetic flux rises from to while the induced electromotive force stays constant: it measures the rate of change, rather than the amount of magnetic flux. The negative sign means clockwise electric current; its magnetic field through the loop points into the page, as explained by Lenz's law. The toy model describes the interval of steady ramping, excluding switching transients at its ends.
For a moving conducting loop , the electromagnetic electromotive force instead includes the Lorentz force contribution from the local velocity of each conductor segment:This form assumes a thin-wire model with a well-defined closed contour and spanning oriented surface that move compatibly, a magnetic field satisfying Gauss's law for magnetism, and conductor speeds small compared with the speed of light. Ideal sliding contacts such as those in motional electromotive force can be treated piecewise. Arbitrary changes of electrical connections require checking the actual contour and conductor velocities; differentiating the flux through an arbitrary chosen moving path is insufficient. The velocity here describes conductor motion, not the charge carriers' drift along the wire. [ref]
https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_17.html#Ch17-S2. Feynman lectures, II.17.2: limits of the flux rule
.A short derivation of the fixed-loop integral statement applies Stokes theorem to the local curl equation and differentiates under the fixed surface integral. For the moving loop, the magnetic flux transport for a moving circuit adds the swept-area term to . Combining these two identities gives the moving-loop statement. This derives the integral forms from the local field law; it is not a proof of that empirical law from mathematics alone.
The useful unity is geometric: changing the magnetic field, the enclosed area, or the orientation can change magnetic flux and hence produce an electromotive force. A coil's multiple turns are accounted for by magnetic flux linkage, rather than by multiplying a single-turn flux without checking which flux each turn receives. [ref]
https://openstax.org/books/university-physics-volume-2/pages/13-1-faradays-law. OpenStax University Physics 2, §13.1: flux changes and coils
.Faraday's report read on 24 November 1831 describes opposite momentary responses when a neighboring circuit is connected and disconnected, with no continuing response while its steady electric current is maintained. These are concrete experimental roots of the changing-flux idea. The report predates the modern Maxwell equations notation used above. [ref]
Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 by Michael Faraday. Faraday, Experimental Researches in Electricity, First Series (1831), §§10–11, reprinted in volume I
. Henry (unit) 2026-10-14
The henry is the SI unit of inductance:A coil with self-inductance has magnetic flux linkage at electric current . A rate of change of electric current produces induced electromotive force of magnitude . The weber measures magnetic flux and magnetic flux linkage; the henry measures their ratio to electric current. [ref].
Inductance Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-13
Inductance relates electric currents to the magnetic flux linkage they produce. For a single linear coil with fixed geometry and magnetic response, its self-inductance is the constant inHere is magnetic flux linkage from the coil's own electric current . The SI unit of inductance is the henry. Knowing inductance lets us predict the induced electromotive force when electric current changes, and the magnetic energy stored by an inductor. [ref].
For example, a coil of self-inductance carrying electric current has magnetic flux linkage . If its turns link the same magnetic flux, each turn has magnetic flux . Keeping the geometry and magnetic response fixed while doubling electric current doubles magnetic flux linkage and quadruples the inductor's magnetic energy.
The comparison with capacitance is useful: a linear capacitor has and stores capacitor energy in its electric field, whereas a linear inductor has and stores magnetic energy in its magnetic field. The RLC circuit brings both forms of energy storage together.
Inductance matrix 2026-10-18
An inductance matrix relates magnetic flux linkages to electric currents in a linear model of coupled inductors. For reciprocal two-coil coupling, . Its stored magnetic energy is . With , it is a positive-definite matrix exactly when . Equality is a singular limiting model requiring separate treatment.
Magnetic flux linkage Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-18
Magnetic flux linkage adds the signed magnetic fluxes through the turns of a coil:Choose each oriented surface consistently with positive electric current around its turn using the right-hand rule. If all turns link approximately the same magnetic flux , then ; equality holds when every turn links exactly the same magnetic flux. Uniform magnetic field perpendicular to identical flat turns of area gives . For a stipulated -turn coil with magnetic flux per turn, magnetic flux linkage is , not . The turn count is dimensionless. [ref]
https://openstax.org/books/university-physics-volume-2/pages/14-2-self-inductance-and-inductors. OpenStax University Physics 2, §14.2: flux through the turns of a coil
. Meissner effect discovery 2026-10-14
The 1933 report Ein neuer Effekt bei Eintritt der Supraleitfähigkeit by W. Meissner and R. Ochsenfeld describes cooling tin and lead cylinders in a fixed transverse magnetic field. Two parallel cylinders were about long and thick, separated by . A roughly rotating search coil between them drove a ballistic galvanometer. At about , the reported below/above-transition induction ratios were for tin single crystals and for polycrystalline lead. The increased gap magnetic field indicates redistribution outside the cylinders, rather than an unchanged frozen field. Coil-winding geometry and noncircular tin specimens limited comparison with the ideal prediction. [ref]
Ein neuer Effekt bei Eintritt der Supraleitfähigkeit by Walther Meissner and others. 1933 report, first arrangement; English translation PDF pp. 1–2, printed p. 119, alongside the German text
Their second arrangement used a lead tube, about long with outer and inner diameters. A rotating search coil could sit inside or alongside it. The bore retained magnetic flux after removing the applied magnetic field; the coil nearly filled the bore, preventing a test of interior field uniformity. A hole containing magnetic field is distinct from magnetic field penetrating the surrounding material exhibiting superconductivity. [ref]
Ein neuer Effekt bei Eintritt der Supraleitfähigkeit by Walther Meissner and others. 1933 report, second arrangement; translation PDF p. 2, printed p. 119, bore retention and explicitly stated spatial-resolution limitation
The modern Field-cooled Meissner experiment provides a complementary readout. MIT's probe I places a sample in a brass holder, with an -turn test coil of inner diameter, outer diameter and length, inside a longer solenoid. A nearby silicon-diode thermometer tracks cooling by helium gas. With lead still normal, the guide applies about to the solenoid and connects the test coil to a current-integrator box and oscilloscope. Cooling produces a transient; warming gives the opposite sign. Switching off the solenoid while the sample is normal checks the sign. [ref]
The inferred change is in linked magnetic flux, not a direct scan of . For a stationary test coil the pulse obeys , where is its magnetic flux linkage. An integrator or AC-coupled oscilloscope needs its transfer response accounted for before extracting this pulse area. Keep the source electric current fixed during cooling, monitor temperature, and compare warming and cooling slowly enough to reduce sample–thermometer lag. An AC inductance change alone can reflect changed normal-state electrical conductivity; the fixed-field expulsion test distinguishes that alternative. [ref]
Superconductivity: The Meissner Effect, Persistent Currents and the Josephson Effects by MIT Department of Physics. §5.1, printed pp. 8–9, thermometer lag; §5.2.2, printed p. 10, limitation of AC mutual-inductance evidence
Neither this coil readout nor the historical gap-field measurement resolves the microscopic London penetration depth by itself. Mutual inductance 2026-10-18
For two fixed linear coils, mutual inductance relates magnetic flux linkage in one coil to electric current in the other: . The induced electromotive force is with consistent winding orientations. For reciprocal coils, , where are self-inductances and measures magnetic coupling. Its SI unit is the henry.
The coils form a mutual induction apparatus. Changing primary electric current changes secondary magnetic flux linkage . Faraday's law of induction givesOn closing the primary circuit, increasing electric current produces a transient secondary electric current and galvanometer deflection. By Lenz's law its direction opposes the increasing magnetic flux. Once primary electric current and core magnetization are steady, the derivative vanishes: the galvanometer returns to zero despite the continuing magnetic field.
On opening the circuit, the decreasing magnetic flux induces a secondary electric current tending to sustain that flux. The galvanometer deflects oppositely, then returns to zero. Making and breaking produce opposite transient deflections; steady primary current produces no sustained induced current.
For fixed linear coils, and , with mutual inductance . Opposite equal changes of primary electric current give opposite equal areas under the induced-electromotive force curves in that model. Peak sizes can differ with switching times. Real iron-core magnetic hysteresis and remanent magnetization can also change the flux excursion, so equality of the actual peaks is not required.
For a long air-cored solenoid, Ampère's law applied to a rectangular loop running inside and outside the winding gives , with the external magnetic field negligible away from the ends. Hence along the winding axis, where . Each turn links magnetic flux with , so the total magnetic flux linkage is . It follows thatHere , and , so andThe value uses the stated long-solenoid approximation and ignores end corrections and winding resistance.
Each long wire lies in the other's magnetic field, . The magnetic Lorentz force per unit length has magnitudeFor the two-wire circuit's self-inductance, a nonzero wire radius is essential. Introduce a radius . Between the wires their magnetic fields add. The external magnetic flux linkage per unit length through the connecting ribbon is, to leading order in ,It follows that the leading thin-wire loop self-inductance per unit length isIt is the loop value for the pair, not the contribution of just one conductor. Corrections from the wire interior depend on the current distribution: for nonmagnetic round wires with uniform direct electric current, the pair contributes another ; for a surface current the internal contribution is zero. The leading logarithm is common to both models.
TODO (source data): the source gives no wire radius or current-distribution convention. There is no finite radius-independent value of the requested self-inductance: taking ideal zero-width wires sends to infinity. The force and the parameterized leading self-inductance above are determined, but a unique finite answer requires that additional specification. For example, changing to changes the leading result by even at fixed separation.
Take an electric current in the long solenoid. Away from its ends, Ampère's circuital law gives the approximately uniform magnetic fieldHere is the vacuum permeability; an air core is understood. Each turn of the short surrounding coil encloses the magnetic flux . Thus its magnetic flux linkage is , and the mutual inductance isThe short coil lies in the nearly uniform central magnetic field; its own axial length therefore does not enter. With consistent winding orientations, Faraday's law of induction gives . Reversing a winding reverses this signed coupling, while the stated magnitude is unchanged.
Let be the angle between the coil's area normal and the magnetic field. Its magnetic flux linkage is . Consequently Faraday's law of induction givesThe sign refers to the winding orientation used to define the normal. The initial phase depends on the chosen time origin; one can set it to zero when the normal first points along . The minimum absolute value is zero, attained at : the coil's normal is parallel or antiparallel to the -axis, and the plane of the coil is perpendicular to that axis. At this orientation the magnetic flux is extremal and its derivative with respect to time vanishes.
Past exam of the physics B course of the University of Cambridge 2010 Paper 1 Section A 1 Solution 2026-10-20
For a fixed linear circuit, self-inductance relates the magnetic flux linkage produced by its own current to that current: , with . The self-induced electromotive force is when is constant. Its unit is the henry, .
mutual inductance relates the linkage in one circuit to current in another: and . For stationary reciprocal linear media, with consistently oriented turns, and . Orientation fixes the sign. The coupled magnetic energy is , so positivity requires . Moving coils or nonlinear cores require differentiation of the full linkage rather than treating the inductance as a constant.
Past exam of the physics B course of the University of Cambridge 2011 Paper 2 Section B B7 Solution 2026-10-20
Self-inductance relates current to its own magnetic flux linkage: , so the induced electromotive force is for fixed geometry. A long solenoid has and area . Its turns giveThe homopolar generator uses a disc rotating through this axial field; integrate the motional Lorentz force from shaft to rim:For a homopolar disc dynamo, choose the wiring and rotation sense giving positive magnetic feedback. Kirchhoff's voltage law isfor prescribed constant . ThusA nonzero seed grows when , decays when , and is marginal at equality. This explains the printed as the threshold including its boundary; equality does not itself give exponential growth. An exactly zero initial current remains zero in the ideal homogeneous equation, and reversing the feedback sense prevents the instability.
In the torque-controlled homopolar dynamo equilibrium, a radial current element exerts a braking torque , so . For steady rotation and nonzero steady current, and . Hence the field intensity magnitude isThe two current signs give opposite magnetic polarities. Finally,The steady magnetic and rotational energies do not change. This is a steady-state balance, not an assertion that every dynamical trajectory must approach that state.
Past exam of the physics B course of the University of Cambridge 2012 Paper 1 Section B B7 Solution 2026-10-20
For fixed, magnetically linear geometry, self-inductance relates a coil's own magnetic flux linkage to its electric current, . mutual inductance relates the linkage in one coil to the current in the other, . These coefficients enter the induced electromotive forces through ; reversing a chosen winding orientation reverses the sign assigned to .
In the ideal confined-field toroid, a circular magnetostatic Ampère law contour encloses , soWrite for the height of the square cross-section. The inductance of a rectangular-section toroid follows by integrating the magnetic flux density over that cross-section; it cannot be replaced by its value at an arbitrary mean radius:Consequently, for winding normals chosen consistently,The equality means complete shared magnetic flux linkage; with leakage one instead has .
For the crack, use the radial-path approximation for a cracked toroid, with an air length on each path and core length . Continuity of the normal magnetic flux density at a crack face gives . HenceIntegrating the radial paths yieldsHere and : about a 53% reduction. The small ratio does not justify expanding in , which is about ten. The crack's low magnetic permeability gives appreciable magnetic reluctance. This is an estimate within a confined-flux model; actual redistribution near the slit is outside its accuracy. Narrow-gap circuit models assume small gap width relative to transverse dimensions and approximately directed flux.[ref]
Magnetic Circuits. §9.7, Example 9.7.1 and the paragraph after it: air-gap circuit approximation and need for a more general field solution
For the intact ring, ideal poloidal winding currents and the no-leakage boundary condition admit with zero radial and vertical components. It is curl-free inside the current-free core, divergence-free for uniform magnetic permeability, tangent to the core boundary, and has the required circulation; uniqueness of the Neumann problem removes an additional homogeneous scalar-potential field. This explains zero non-azimuthal components in the stipulated intact-ring idealization. A literal slit breaks that rotational symmetry, so zero transverse components everywhere is not exact for the cracked ring: magnetic fringing and flux redistribution occur. In fact, extending the approximate unchanged around a current-free core would give . Thus that radial-path calculation and a claim of exact purely azimuthal field in the cracked geometry cannot both be exact. The numerical answer above retains the intended circuit approximation while making its limitation explicit.

