Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I need to measure the level of radiation of an electrogmagnetic field created by a moter core and battery. I am using a Vernier labquest to record the field strength. The labquest displays the data in milli-Tesla (mT). But the probe is set for amplification. Is it automatically converted or do I need to convert amplitude to milla-Tesla? (My end goal is a reading in megaHertz)

Hello halimiller,

Your question about what the Vernier Labquest displays can be answered best by the equipment's user manual. I don't have access to one of the instruments, so I don't know the answer.

One way to check the displayed value would be to see what it displays for the earth's field. I think it's able to do that. The earth's field varies from place to place over the range 0.25 to 0.65 Gauss or 25,000 to 65,000 nanoTesla or 0.025 to 0.065 milliTesla. If you read a tenth of that or ten times as much, then apparently some sort of correction for the probe has to be made.

I don't understand your last comment about wanting a result in megaHertz. Hertz is a unit of frequency, not magnetic field strength.

Hope this helps, WW