2. Magnets and Current Connection
The next steps in understanding electricity
unfolded in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1820
Hans Christian Oersted made a key
discovery.
Oersted created an electric current in the
usual manner, with wires connecting one
terminal of a battery to the other. He placed
a compass needle, a magnet, near the
circuit. When the current flowed, the
compass needle veered from pointing to
Earth’s magnetic North Pole - its normal
position - to taking an odd position at right
angles to the wire.
4. The magnetosphere is the region
surrounding Earth in which the planet's
magnetic field deflects the solar wind. The
magnetosphere is compressed by the solar
wind on the side of the planet facing the
Sun, and trails far off into space on side
away from the Sun.
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5. The outermost layer of the Sun's
atmosphere, the corona, is so hot that it
continually escapes into space. The
resulting stream of charged particles that
blows across the entire solar system is
called the solar wind.
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9. Oersted worried about this effect until
it dawned on him that, after all, a
compass is designed to detect
magnetic fields. He realized that the
current in the wire must be producing
a magnetic field.
Oersted had discovered a connection
between electricity and magnetism:
Currents produce magnetic fields.
Magnets, of course, also produce
magnetic fields, and their ability to
attract pieces of iron had been well
studied. The news traveled across
Magnets and Current Connection
10. Hans Christian Oersted predicted in 1813 that
a connection would be found between
electricity and magnetism. In 1819, this
discovery demonstrated that electric currents
produce magnetic fields.
Magnets and Current Connection
26. A Direct Current Motor when examined
in its interior structures…
Magnets and Current Connection
27. A Direct Current Motor when examined
in its interior structures…
Magnets and Current Connection
28. The following is a comic strip that will
elaborate and explain how Hans
Christian Oersted was able to
discover the connection between
magnets and current.
The discovery ushered and started
many breakthroughs on
electromagnetism.
Magnets and Current Connection