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Which pole will electrons flow towards in a changing magnetic field (generator)

Physics Asked on December 13, 2020

In a generator a magnet spins in the middle of a coil of wire and the changing magnetic field causes current to flow, but the current changes direction whenever fields from a new pole of the magnet cross a point on the wire, so will the current move towards the north pole or towards the south pole (rather the part of the wire being touched by the pole’s magnetic field).

I know that when you use current to magnetize something the north end of the magnet is the end that was negative, so I would assume that current would move away from the north. Is that correct?

To make things more clear I have added this diagram. Assume the generator is running. Would electrons be taking the blue or the red path?
enter image description here

One Answer

The image you presented looks like a DC motor. If thats the case, there would be a DC source connected at the terminals. When current flows through the wire, a temporary magnetic field is formed due to the current flow through the wire. This temporary field repels the magnetic field felt from the magnets and causes the wire to flip over.

What causes the wire to keep flipping is called a commutator (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commutator_(electric)). This reverses the current flow after the wire has flipped. The reversing of the current at timed intervals causes the wire to keep flipping. If there was no commutator to reverse the current the wire would only flip once where it would now be in the most stable state of the magnetic field. It's the reversing of the current that keeps the motor moving.

Answered by Somebody on December 13, 2020

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