Michael Faraday And The Electromagnet
Michael Faraday was born in London on September 22, 1791 at Newington Butts. He could not receive formal education since he was not from a very affluent family. He was apprenticed to a book binder in 1805 and for the next seven years, he utilized this opportunity to read and learn from a wide range of scientific subjects. |
Later, Michael Faraday became well known as a chemist and physicist and his major contributions were in the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. He explained the basis of magnetic field through his studies on the effects of magnetic field around a conductor which carried Direct Current (DC).
In 1831, Faraday made one of his most renowned discoveries, the principle of electromagnetic induction by using the "induction ring". The electricity was generated by means of electromagnetic effect. This was the first version of an electric transformer. He further discovered that magneto electric induction produced electric current on a continuous basis.
Through a sliding contact to a disc made of copper, Faraday attached two wires. He rotated the disc between the two poles (north and south) of a horse shoe magnet and found that he obtained a continuous flow of direct current. But when the rotation was stopped, the current generation was also stopped. This was the first step to the discovery of popular devices like electric motor, generator and transformer.
Faraday was considered as one of the most influential scientists during his time. He was also one of the best experimentalists. The SI unit of capacitance called Farad is named after him and is also referred to as the Faraday constant.
More Articles :
|
