Mr.
Kanisorn Khuphiran Student ID 6234203723 1
Measurement of a field gradient using an unknown magnetic dipole
attached to an unknown spring with two identical coils
Mr. Kanisorn Khuphiran
Student ID 6234203723
The measurement of a field gradient can be easily done with three equipments: a
magnetic dipole, a spring and two identical coils. Two more laboratory equipments: a
current regulator and five identical metal spheres with a precise mass of 1 g are required for
varying the forces. A force constant is found using Hooke’s law. Then, the interaction of the
magnetic dipole with the magnetic field and field gradient created by two coils separated by
a distance of 7 cm is studied for four cases of currents being either in the opposite or same
direction in both coils and being either reversed or non-reversed. After that, the magnetic
moment is determined using linear relationship between the axial force and the axial field
gradient. Finally, a field gradient of a current-carrying coil is measured, compared and then
fitted with the EXCEL’s solver to determine plausibility of the result
Keywords: magnetic moment, Helmholtz configuration, force constant,
1. INTRODUCTION
(2)
Coil can behave as an electromagnet when some
Hence, the field gradient is simply the axial derivative of
current is fed. The magnetic field is simple. It’s in a
(2):
single direction with decreasing magnitude for an
(3)
increasing distance. When two coils are placed so their
For two coils separated by a distance d and posited so
centers are aligned, the magnetic field and the field
their midpoint is at the origin, the magnetic field is
gradient are more complex. And in some certain
simply the sum of both coils’.
configuration, an experiment can be designed to
measure a magnetic moment with high resolution.
1.1 Theory
A magnetic field at r away from an infinitesimal (4)
current element Idl can be derived using Biot-Savart where Iu and Id denote currents flowing in the upper and
law: lower coil respectively. And the field gradient is
(1)
For a coil with N loops with current I flowing through (5)
the wire, the components of magnetic field is
2 Mr. Kanisorn Khuphiran Student ID 6234203723
Equation (4) and (5) are used to plot the axial field and found in compass where its needle rotates to align with
field gradient for two configurations: currents flowing in Earth’s magnetic field. In this experiment, the axial force
(I) the same direction and (ii) the opposite direction will be measured with a spring, cf. Figure 2. From
(Helmholtz's configuration), cf. figure 1. In the Helmholtz Hooke’s law,
configuration, the magnetic field is high and very stable (8)
around a midpoint(z=0) while its field gradient is zero where z0 is the original position of the gimbal. Using five
around a midpoint which is a saddle point in this case. metal spheres weighted precisely 1 g, the total weights
When the currents are in the same direction, the net acting on a spring can be varied and then the
magnetic field is unstably zero around a midpoint while elongation is measured accordingly. The force constant
its field gradient is high in magnitude and stable around can be estimated using linear regression suggested by
a midpoint. (8). The field gradient of two coils with opposite
currents is varied by current using a current regulator
and the axial position z is measured accordingly. The
axial force calculated via (8) and the field gradient
calculated via (5) are used in linear regression to
estimate the magnetic moment. With (7) and (8), the
field gradient can be written as a function of length of
the atop brass rod:
where l0 is the original(no current in the coil) length of
the brass rod which is linearly dependent on z. So,
(9)
where l0(0) is the original length of the brass rod when
the gimbal posits at z=0.
Figure 1: The axial magnetic field (top) and the axial field
gradient (bottom) produced by two coils separated by
d=7cm and with R=7cm and N=168. The currents flowing in
the two coils are in the same direction (red) and different
direction (blue). The green line depicted the case of current
flowing only in the upper coil (Id = 0).
The interaction of a magnetic moment μ to the
magnetic field is due to the presence of a torque:
(6)
and the axial force:
Figure 2 (left) Experimental apparatus; the arrow on the
(7)
gimbal denotes the direction of the magnetic moment.
Equation (6) says that the magnetic moment will rotate Figure 3 (right) Wiring diagram for the case of same, non-
to align the magnetic field(zero torque when μ // B). reversed currents. Both coils are wired in series.
The rotation is called Faraday rotation and normally
Mr. Kanisorn Khuphiran Student ID 6234203723 3
2. EXPERIMENT graph of the axial force vs. the axial field gradient.
The experiment consists of four parts. Every sub- Estimate the value of magnetic moment from the slope.
experiments use the same apparatus as in Figure 2. 2.4 Measurement of a field gradient
2.1 Measurement of a spring force constant 1. Posits gimbal at z=0. Wire for the non-reversed
1. Read the gimbal’s position using the scale of the current on the upper coil and no current on the lower.
cylinder. Record it as z0 Measure the length of an atop brass rod, l0(0).
2. Add a 1g metal sphere to the gimbal. Read the 2. Set the current to 1.5 A. Posits the gimbal at z=-
gimbal’s new position and record it as z. Do it over 3.5 cm. Slowly move the gimbal up by 0.5 cm. Measure
again until all the metal spheres are used. the length of an atop brass rod, l. Stop when the
3. Remove all the metal spheres and redo 2. for 3 gimbal’s position reaches 10.0 cm.
times. Calculate the elongation z-z0. Plot the graph of 3. Calculate two columns of the axial field gradient
added weight vs. spring’s elongation. Then, estimate the via equation 5 and 9. Calculate the sum of their errors.
slope and take it as the spring’s force constant. Use the EXCEL’s solver to minimize the error using
2.2 Study of a magnetic dipole’s interactions with position of the upper coil’s center(zcenter), coil’s radius(R),
the magnetic field and the field gradient produced magnetic moment(μ) and spring’s force constant (k) as
by two coils variables. Plot the two columns of the resolved field
1. Posits gimbal at the midpoint between two coils. gradient. Discuss plausibility of the change in variables.
Wire as in figure 3 to study the case of same, non- 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
reversed currents.
2. Turn the current on by turning V-coarse-knob to
the right a bit before turning I-coarse-knob to the right.
Adjust the current little by little while observing the
gimbal. Stop when 3.0A is reached. Record what
happens to the gimbal.
3. Do 1-2 again but wire them for each of the 3
different cases: (I) same, reversed currents (ii) opposite,
non-reversed currents and (iii) opposite, reversed
currents. Figure 4 The Hooke’s law; the spring’s force constant is
2.3 Measurement of a magnetic moment found by estimating the slope.
1. Posits gimbal at the midpoint between two coils. As shown in figure 4, spring’s force constant is
Wire for the case of opposite, reversed currents. estimated to be the slope as 1.26 ± (1.44-1.12)/2 N/m =
2. Vary the current. For every change of the gimbal’s 1.3 ± 0.2 N/m. As shown in table 1 in the “same”
position by 0.15 cm, record the current. Stop when the column, a magnetic dipole is flipped to have its
gimbal’s position exceeds 1.20 cm or lower than -1.20 magnetic moment aligned with the magnetic field and is
cm. Reverse the currents and do it over again. unchanged when it’s already aligned (recall that
3. Calculate the axial force and the axial field reversing currents causes a 180o flip of B). In the
gradient using equation 8 and 5 respectively. Plot the “opposite” column, a magnetic dipole moves along the
axial direction as the axial force is present according to
4 Mr. Kanisorn Khuphiran Student ID 6234203723
equation 7. Note that reversing currents causes a flip in equation 7 as well as the measured values of magnetic
the field gradient. Hence, the direction of the moment and spring’s constant is suggested.
movement is flipped as a result.
Table 1 Interaction of a magnetic dipole in four different
cases of currents flowing in the two coils
currents same opposite
non-reversed Flipped 180o Moved downwards
reversed No change Moved upwards
Figure 6 A fitted plot of the axial field gradient produced by
an upper coil with I = 1.5A.
4. CONCLUSIONS
A field gradient can be measured accurately with only
a spring, a magnetic dipole and two coils. In this
experiment, a spring’s force constant is estimated using
Hooke’s law. A magnetic moment is estimated using the
axial force equation(7) and the opposite currents
configuration of the two coils which gives a high
Figure 5 A linear relationship between the magnitude of the magnitude of the field gradient. A measurement of field
axial force and the magnitude of the axial field gradient gradient of an upper coil is done by exploiting the axial
produced by two coils with opposite currents; the magnetic
force equation and the Hooke’s law. The measured
moment is found by estimating the slope.
field gradient is very well fitted using the equation
As shown in figure 5, the value of magnetic moment is
derived from the Biot-Savart law. The fitting parameters
estimated from the slopes and is 0.39 ± (0.47-0.33)/2
solved using the EXCEL’s solver are in excellent
N·m/T = 0.39 ± 0.07 N·m/T. As shown in figure 6, the
agreement with the measured values. Therefore,
measured field gradient is very well fitted to the
plausibility of the measurement method is suggested.
equation 5 with the resolved parameters: zcenter = 4.04
cm, R = 6.91 cm, μ = 0.395 N·m/T and k = 1.257 N/m.
The deviation from the measured values are: ΔR =
1. Griffith, D. J. (2017). Introduction to Electrodynamics (4th ed.).
0.09(< .1) cm, Δμ = 0.005(< 0.07) N·m/T and Δk =
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 1108420419.
0.003(<0.2) N/m which are all very small and are within 2. Jackson, D. J. (1998). Classical Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). Wiley.
experimental error. However, zcenter can’t be measured ISBN 9780471309321.
directly but it must be ranged from 3.3 cm to 4.7 cm 3. Tumański, S. (2011). Handbook of magnetic
which are the position of the lower and the upper edge, measurements,.CRC Press / Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton, FL.
respectively, for the upper coil. Hence, zcenter= 4.04 cm is ISBN 9780367864958
reasonable as it is close to the midpoint of the range:
(3.3+4.7)/2 cm = 4.0 cm. Therefore, the plausibility of
