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Faraday's Law and Magnetic Induction: cause and effect, experiment and theory

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>6/05/2020
<mark>Journal</mark>Physics
Issue number2
Volume2
Number of pages14
Pages (from-to)150-163
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Faraday's Law of induction is often stated as "a change in magnetic flux causes an EMF"; or, more 2 cautiously, "a change in magnetic flux is associated with an EMF". It is as well that the more cautious form exists, because the first "causes" form can be shown to be incompatible with the usual expression V = -(d/dt)phi. This is not, however, to deny the causality as reasonably inferred from experimental observation - it is the equation for Faraday's Law of induction which does not represent the claimed cause-and-effect relationship. Unusually, in this induction scenario, the apparent experimental causality does not match up with that of the mathematical model. Here we investigate a selection of different approaches, trying to see how an explicitly causal mathematical equation, which attempts to encapsulate the experimental experience of "a change in magnetic flux causes ..." idea, might arise. We see that although it is easy to find mathematical models where changes in magnetic flux or field have an effect on the electric current, the same is not true for the EMF.