Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Like many others I am helping my son with the spark gap induction project. my problem is with the circumference of the pvc insulater. Changing the bolt size to one that will fit into 1/2" pvc still requires 500ft. of secondary wire using only four turns on the primary. how much is the amount of turns on the primary going to affect the magnetic field being generated?

D. Bergeron wrote:Like many others I am helping my son with the spark gap induction project. my problem is with the circumference of the pvc insulater. Changing the bolt size to one that will fit into 1/2" pvc still requires 500ft. of secondary wire using only four turns on the primary. how much is the amount of turns on the primary going to affect the magnetic field being generated?

I think this has been answered previously at:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentorin ... php?t=2163

Also, I found the links in the sciencebuddies page for this project had much more detail, so I would also check them out.

Louise

If not, post again.

I have searched unsuccesfully to find any artical which explains how the number of turns on the primary affects amount of magnetic field generated. Does one turn generate the same as four or eight?

D. Bergeron wrote:I have searched unsuccesfully to find any artical which explains how the number of turns on the primary affects amount of magnetic field generated. Does one turn generate the same as four or eight?

Isn't the voltage ratio the important issue since you need a certain voltage to ionize air? Why do you need the magnetic field? The magnetic field and the electric field are proportional to each other, so if you increase the electric field you increase the magnetic field.

Louise

Louise wrote:

D. Bergeron wrote:I have searched unsuccesfully to find any artical which explains how the number of turns on the primary affects amount of magnetic field generated. Does one turn generate the same as four or eight?

Isn't the voltage ratio the important issue since you need a certain voltage to ionize air? Why do you need the magnetic field? The magnetic field and the electric field are proportional to each other, so if you increase the electric field you increase the magnetic field.

Louise

Calculating the magnetic field can be complicated, but here is an article that discusses this phenomenon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnet

Louise