Electricity and magnetism are interconnected, with a flow of electrons in a wire producing a magnetic field. Induced current can be amplified through a tight coil or transformer, and electromagnets can attract or repel each other.
A closed electrical circuit with energy flow illustrates the two parts of the electromagnetic force: electricity and magnetism. Electricity is produced when electrons are pushed through a wire from a voltage source, such as a battery. Not only does the original wire possess a flow of electrons, it also produces a magnetic field around that flow. These electromagnetic energy behaviors are coupled: the flow of electrons and the magnetic field that the flow creates. If a wire carrying electrons is brought close to another wire, the magnetic field of the first wire will induce a flow – an induced current – along the second wire.
In 1831, Michael Faraday published his discovery that a current in one wire could induce a current in another wire. In 1862, this induced current phenomenon was mathematically described by James Clerk Maxwell; it was based on the equations of colleagues who had described other energy exchanges, such as stress flows in solids and fluid flows in liquids. Maxwell’s equation illuminates the reasons for induced current, or inductance, by showing that the flow of electricity can be measured in two ways: as a voltage drop forcing the flow of electrons and as a magnetic flux field, originating in the flow .
Induced current can be amplified when an electrically conductive wire is forced into a tight coil in the direction of a current. A transformer works by placing the coils of two circuits parallel and close to each other so that electrical energy is transferred from one circuit to the other. This inductive coupling occurs when the magnetic fields emanating from the coils intersect each other in phase, transferring a maximum amount of energy. This exchange is similar to pushing a child on a swing: if the push is timed correctly, the swing is pushed upward at full speed.
When a wire with a current is wrapped around an iron rod, it can produce a magnetic field that can either attract or repel the magnetic field of another of these electromagnets. An engine and a generator each consist of two magnets, one moving and one stationary. The moving magnet, when it contacts the stationary magnet, induces a change in the direction of electron flow, which causes the magnets to repel each other. This change in the direction of the induced current creates an alternating push and pull, spinning the magnet in motion. The choke can work in the opposite direction when mechanical energy from a rotating propeller attached to a generator magnet forces the flow of electrons into storage batteries.
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