PHYS 2121 Minilab – Induced Current.
You’re working on a project to build a rail gun – in order to most accurately test your rail gun simulation, you need to be able to calculate effects of induced current on your system. You build a simulator that moves a rail at constant velocity to check that your code calculates induced current correctly.
The induced current in your simulation has 3 different proportionality to test. Remember that to test a proportionality you vary only one variable at a time while you see the effect on the induced current. You should make a graph with at least 6 data points for each proportionality. For each graph, check that your simulation is giving correct numbers by reporting both R2 and confirming that the slope matches physics predictions.
You should also check if your simulation is correctly using Lenz’s law to find the current direction. You have four different possible combinations of field direction and velocity direction. For each combination, describe what Lenz’s Law would predict, and then confirm in the simulation. The simulation shows the direction of electron flow – remember that is the opposite direction of standard current.
Standard Questions: What sources of error would exist in a real lab that are not present in this simulation? What would be more challenging in a real lab that was easy here? What would be more dangerous in a real lab that was safe here? What simplifications in the simulation would be impossible in a real lab? What measurements that were made in the simulation would be difficult or impossible in a real lab?
