What is electromagnet and its use?

Most of us noticsed that, a compass needle will only point North –South, if there are no other magnets near it. But, if there are magnets near compass, the needle will be attracted towards them and will point in a different direction or be deflected. And it was discovered that if a compass was held near a wire carrying an electric current, the needle was deflected. But if the current was switched off the needle swung back and pointed North-South again. This meant that the current was acting like a magnet. If some wire is wrapped around a magnet and a current passes through the wire, the magnet will become much stronger. This is known as an electromagnet.

Use

1. Used in Computer Hardware and Memory Storage Devices. In these devices, data are stored in electromagnetic format in bits and bytes form. Even the computer hard ware is having a magnetic tape which works on the electromagnetic principle. Not limiting to this, the olden day VCR’s are having huge rolls of magnetic tapes, which had data in it. This can be recorded or read by electromagnetic means only. Also the computer and Televisions use high current electromagnets to produce a beam of electrons from the cathode ray tube. You can see how much useful it is in our day to day life.

2. Power Circuits and Communication Devices. The telephones and mobiles we use to make a call over huge distances could have not taken shape without electromagnetism. The interaction of the signals and the electromagnetic pulses, make the telephones and mobiles very handy. In power circuits, we use a device called relays, which has the potential to cut down a large current to the load, with the application of small amount of current. A small magnetic coil, which when energized, makes or breaks contact, thus doing a greater amount of work on the other end. Not to forget the usage of electromagnetism in medical field. Everyone must have heard of MRI scans. MRI- is the acronym for Magnetic Resonance Imaging. This sophisticated equipment can scan any minute details in the human body on the principle of electromagnetism.

3. Modern day fast trains under operation in Japan and Germany are hugely dependent on the electromagnetic principle.

4. Electric fan, the motor works on the principle of electromagnetic induction, which keeps it rotating on and on and thus making the blade hub of the fan to rotate, blowing air.

5. Electric door bell works on this principle too. When the door bell button is put on, the coil gets energized, and due to the electromagnetic forces, the bell sounds.

6. The loudspeaker which we use for public announcements in meetings, or to transmit message over a long distance, is a perfect example for an electromagnetic appliance. The movement of the coil under the electromagnetic force produces sound which is heard over a very long distance.

7. Also the modern way of locking the door or a bank safe is to have a magnetic locking device. Either they may be having a number secret code or a magnetic card which when swiped opens the door. The number keys are stored in the magnetic tape on the back of the card, interacts with the magnetic card reader in the door. When the data stored on the card and the memory matches, the door opens. Similar principle is used in the bank’s safe lockers.

So, from this article we can say that an electromagnet is very important part of our life now. Thank you for now. You can put your questions in comment or through Question form (use option buttom).