- [Instructor] So far the
only way we know of producing
an electric current is by using a battery,
which is made of chemicals.
And this is fine if you are
dealing with small circuits,
like in your toys or in your clocks
or maybe your mobile phones.
But what if you want to
distribute electricity
on a large scale?
Let's say you want to
distribute electricity
to millions of houses around the world.
Do you build large batteries?
Imagine the amount of chemicals.
What a mess!
So I guess the big question
we want to explore now
is can we somehow create electric current
without using any batteries,
without any chemicals?
Is it possible?
Well, let's find out.
We have already seen
that if you pass a current through a coil
it generates a magnetic field around it
like a bar magnet.
Which means an electric current
can give us magnetic fields.
But a curious man named Michael Faraday
wondered whether the reverse was possible.
Could magnetic fields
create electric currents?
Because if the answer
is yes, then it's huge!
Because we would have
found a new way to create
electric current without using
any batteries or chemicals.
Just by using magnetic fields.
So Faraday got excited
and he performed a lot of
experiments to test this.
So you know what?
Let's pretend we are Faraday.
What kind of experiments
would we need to perform
to check whether this is true or not?
Well, we would require a circuit,
to have electric current in it.
Basically just a coil,
with some current sensing device,
which can tell us whether there
is a current flowing or not.
Faraday used a galvanometer.
Which can tell you whether
a current is flowing.
It can also tell you,
depending on what direction
the deflection is,
what direction the current is flowing.
But you know what?
Galvanometers are boring.
So let's use a bulb instead.
And let's assume that
our bulb will glow yellow
if current flows in one direction.
And it will glow blue
if the current flows in
the opposite direction.
That just makes the whole
experiment so much more fun.
All right?
And no batteries,
because we want to check whether
we can create electricity
or electric current without batteries
by using magnetic fields.
And for magnetic fields
we will require a magnet.
So let's bring in a magnet,
place it close to this
coil and see what happens.
And we see
nothing.
There is no glow in the bulb.
That means there is no current,
but there is a magnetic field
because I have kept a
bar magnet close to it.
This means a magnetic field does not
create an electric current.
What a disappointment.
So, let's pack up and go home.
Let's throw away that magnet.
Wait, I just saw a flash of light.
Let's bring back the magnet.
Whoa, we saw a flash again.
This time it was blue,
so the current was in
the opposite direction.
But we did it!
We created electricity without
batteries for a split second.
But it seems to work only
when the magnet is moving,
not when it's at rest.
And as Faraday I raise
my eyebrows and say,
"Hmm interesting."
Now let's play with this even more.
What if we keep the magnet addressed
and move the coil instead?
Do you think we'll
create electricity again?
Well, your guess is as
good as mine, so let's see.
And bingo!
There we have it.
Again we saw a flash of light
when the coil was moving.
So this means that if it's
the coil or the magnet
one of them have to move
and during the motion we
are getting electricity.
But what does this mean?
Well, to understand more,
let's look at another experiment
that Faraday performed.
This time instead of a
magnet, he brought in a coil
and connected it to a battery.
The idea is when we close the switch
there will be a current
and it will produce a magnetic field.
And we will check whether
that magnetic field
will produce electricity in this coil.
We will call this as our primary coil.
The one that generates the magnetic field.
And this one where we are gonna
create electricity without battery.
We will call it as our secondary coil.
So basically instead of a magnet
we are using an electromagnet.
So, are you ready for this?
Let's close the switch and again a flash!
Are you kidding me, what is going on?
So right now there is a current
flowing through the primary.
It is generating a magnetic field,
but we're not getting
anything in the secondary.
We only got it for a split second.
Man, what's happening?
All right let's open this,
ooh again we got a flash!
So Faraday is trying to
figure out what's the secret?
What is common in both
of these experiments?
The one with the magnets,
and the one with the coil.
So can you try and think
about what is common
in both of them that is
generating electricity?
Think in terms of magnetic field
and see if you can crack the code.
Now if you couldn't crack the code,
then don't worry too much about it.
It's not at all obvious.
But here is what Faraday discovered.
If we go back to our coil
and the magnet experiment,
we saw that when we move the magnet close
or moved it away,
that's when the bulb glowed.
But what is happening
to the magnetic field
that is going through the coil
when we move the magnet?
If I move the magnet closer,
notice the magnetic
field strength increases,
because it comes closer to the magnet.
And when I move the magnet farther away
the magnetic field, going
through this coil, decreases.
And since it's during that time
we found a flash in the bulb,
maybe Faraday thought
that a changing magnetic field,
passing through a loop,
is what produces electric current.
When the magnet is stationary
there is a magnetic field,
but it is not changing with time.
It remains the same.
So maybe steady magnetic fields
do not produce electricity,
but changing magnetic fields are the one
that can produce electricity.
Let's see if we can apply the same logic,
even to the second experiment.
In the second experiment
we get a flash when we close the switch
and when we open it, but not in between.
What's going on over here?
Well, when we close the switch
we know a current starts
running through the coil.
Let's say that current is
one ampere, as an example.
Now before closing it was zero.
Now it is one ampere.
But the question is
does the current jump
from zero to one suddenly?
No.
It goes from zero to .1, then .2, then .3
and all the way to one ampere.
This happens very fast in a
matter of few milliseconds,
so we cannot detect that,
but it takes some very small
time for that to happen.
And so it's during that time,
just after we close the switch,
the current is growing to its
maximum value, one ampere.
And during that time, the magnetic field,
generated by that coil, is also growing.
And so the field through this coil
is increasing, it's changing.
And during that time
the current is produced
over here and that gives us a light.
See the time taken for
that growth is very small.
We get a flash of light
and then it disappears.
Once the current has
reached its maximum state,
one ampere, or maximum
value of one ampere here,
then the magnetic field
is not changing anymore.
And therefore after that
there is no more a current produced.
And the same thing happens
when we open the switch.
The current dies out
but it takes some time
for the current to die.
And during that time even
the magnetic field dies out.
Magnetic field is changing
and we see a flash.
So what Faraday had discovered
through these experiments,
is that a steady magnetic field
does not generate an electric current,
but a changing magnetic field does.
That's the secret.
So the current that is produced over here,
or we can also say a voltage is produced
because of which the charges are moving
and we are getting a current.
Due to a changing magnetic field
we call them as induced
currents or induced voltage.
To differentiate it from
the currents and the voltage
we get from a battery.
And this phenomena is called
electromagnetic induction.
So electromagnetic induction
is a phenomena in which
when you change the magnetic
field through a coil
it induces a voltage or a current.
And when Faraday presented his discovery,
one person asked him, so what?
Changing magnetic field
produces a voltage.
What is the big deal?
Faraday said, "One day this will power up
"our entire world."
And today even after more than 200 years,
all of our generators,
all the electricity that
you get at your homes
is produced by electromagnetic induction.
