Electric Power
Text Resources
VCE Physics: Electric Power, 1994, 2nd edn, National Electricity.
Audiovisual Resources
It is recommended that teachers should view any video before purchase.
Marcom Projects: Electrical Principles , Electricity Distribution, Electromagnetic Induction, Electromagnetism 1, 2, Magnets & Electricity, Electrical Components 3
Classroom Activities
- Forces on Charges
- Describes the magnetic force on moving charges and goes on to look at the effect of the Earth's magnetic field on charges from the Sun and at the Hall effect, which gives us insight into the nature of electric currents as well as many practical applications.
- Maxwell's Equations
- Describes Maxwell's equations and Electromagnetic Waves. The material is beyond the curriculum, but would be of interest to students looking for a little extra in this area.
- Magnetic Puzzle from John Joosten
- When you roll a NIB magnet down an Aluminium sheet it curves to one side. The curving appears to depend on the orientation of the sheet in the Earth's magnetic field. How can it be explained. Share you ideas in the Physics "Forum". An explanation, An application: a NIB homopolar electric motor
Assessment Ideas
An Assessment Taskfrom the previous course on a generating system.
IT Applications
Useful Websites
A very comprehensive website on motors, generators and transformers featuring many effective animations.
Applets
There are an increasing number of applets being developed around the world. Some of the developers have written quite a large number across many fields of physics and science in general. Under the “Links” area of this website there is a section for applets where you can select one of the web site of these developers to see the range that they have produced.
Listed below are the applets from these developers for this particular Area of Study. Each has a description to give you some idea of its usefulness and relevance. The first name is the developer, the second is the category or section within their site and the third is the applet’s title.
Please read the descriptions below, and then go to the Links section.
- Walter Fendt/Electrodynamics/Magnetic Field of a Straight Current Carrying Wire
- The applet shows a vertical current carrying wire. You can move a compass needle around the wire to map the magnetic field. You can also reverse the direction of the current.
- Walter Fendt/Electrodynamics/Lorentz Force (Force of a magnetic field on a current)
- The applet shows a U shaped wire in the magnetic field of a horseshoe magnet. You are able to turn on a current and see the wire move. You can reverse the magnet and the direction of the current. The display shows the direction of the current, the magnetic field and the force.
- Walter Fendt/Electrodynamics/Direct Current Electric Motor
- The display shows a coil rotating slowly in magnetic field. The coil is linked to a battery through a commutator. You can reverse the direction of the current and increase the speed of rotation, you also can decide to show the directions of the magnetic field, the current and the direction of the magnetic force called the Lorentz force.
- Walter Fendt/Electrodynamics/Generator
- The display shows a coil rotating slowly in a magnetic field. The current in the coil is shown by arrows which change direction as the coil rotates, the loop can be connected through either slip rings or a commutator through a resistor with a voltmeter across it. The needle of the voltmeter moves backwards and forwards. You can vary the rotational speed and select either slip rings or commutator, you also can decide to show the directions of the magnetic field, the direction of movement of the wire, and the induced current. Increasing the rotation, increases the peak voltage.
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