Question

There are 200 turns of wire around an electromagnet. The current in the wire is 6 amp. You want to increase the strength of the magnet to 1.5 times its present strength. What are two changes you can make to achieve your goal? Show all your calculations.

Answer 1

To enhance the electromagnet's strength by 1.5 times, one could increase the current to 9 A or the number of turns to 300.

Step-by-step explanation:

To increase the magnet's strength to 1.5 times its current strength with 200 turns of wire in the electromagnet, one can either increase the current or the number of turns of the wire.

Mathematically, the magnetic field strength of an electromagnet (B) is directly proportional to the current (I) and the number of turns (N), following the formula B ∝ N * I. To achieve a 1.5 times stronger magnetic field, we need to increase either the current by 1.5 times or the number of turns by 1.5 times.

Option 1: Increase the current to 1.5 * 6 A = 9 A.
Option 2: Increase the number of turns to 1.5 * 200 = 300 turns.

Answer 2

i. increasing the number of turns of the wire by half, so that it equals 300.

OR

ii. increasing the value of the current by half of its initial value, so that it equals 9 amp.

Step-by-step explanation:

An electromagnet consists of a coil of wire wound around a conductor which becomes induced with magnetism when current flows through the coil.

The magnetic strength of the electromagnet can be increased to 1.5 of its initial strength either by;

i. increasing the number of turns by half of its initial value

OR

ii. increasing the current by half of its initial value

The magnetic strength of an electromagnet = I × N

where; I is the amount of current and N the number of turns.

Given that: I = 6 A, N = 200, then;

magnetic strength = 6 ×200

= 1200 Ampere turns

i. Increasing the number of turns to 300 and I = 6 A, we have;

magnetic strength = 6 × 300

= 1800 Ampere turns

OR

ii. increasing the value of current by half of its initial value, so that N = 200 and I = 9 A;

magnetic strength = 9 ×200

= 1800 Ampere turns