KEY CONCEPT

Magnetism can
produce current.
Sunshine State BEFORE, you learned NOW, you will learn
STANDARDS • Magnetism is a force exerted • How a magnetic field can
SC.B.1.3.1: The student by magnets produce an electric current
identifies forms of
• Electric current can produce a • How a generator converts
energy and explains
magnetic field energy
that they can be meas-
ured and compared. • Electromagnets can make • How direct current and
objects move alternating current differ
SC.H.3.3.4: The student
knows that technologi-
cal design should
require taking into
account constraints EXPLORE Energy Conversion
such as natural laws,
the properties of the How can a motor produce current?
materials used, and
economic, political, PROCEDURE MATERIALS
social, ethical, and • small motor
aesthetic values. 1 Touch the wires on the motor to the battery • AA cell (battery)
terminals to see how the motor operates. • light bulb in
holder
2 Connect the wires to the light bulb.

3 Roll the shaft, or the movable part of the motor,

VOCABULARY between your fingers. Observe the light bulb.
generator p. 428
direct current p. 429 4 Now spin the shaft rapidly. Record your observations.
alternating current p. 429
transformer p. 431
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
• How did you produce current?
• What effect did your motion have on
the amount of light produced?

Magnets are used to generate

an electric current.
In the 1830s, about ten years after Oersted discovered that an electric
MAIN IDEA WEB current produces magnetism, physicists observed the reverse effect—
Make a main idea web in a moving magnetic field induces an electric current. When a magnet
your notebook for this
heading. moves inside a coiled wire that is in a circuit, an electric current is
generated in the wire.
It is often easier to generate an electric current by moving a wire
inside a magnetic field. Whether it is the magnet or the wire that
moves, the effect is the same. Current is generated as long as the wire
crosses the magnetic field lines.
check your reading What must happen for a magnetic field to produce an
electric current?

Chapter 12: Magnetism 427

 Generating an Electric Current
A generator is a device that converts the energy of motion, or kinetic
energy, into electrical energy. A generator is similar to a motor in
reverse. If you manually turn the shaft of a motor that contains a
magnet, you can produce electric current.
The illustration below shows a portable generator that provides
electrical energy to charge a cell phone in an emergency. The generator
produces current as you turn the handle. Because it does not need to
be plugged in, the generator can be used wherever and whenever it is
needed to recharge a phone. The energy is supplied by the person
turning the handle.
1 As the handle is turned, it rotates a series of gears. The gears turn
the shaft of the generator.
2 The rotation of the shaft causes coils of wire to rotate within a
magnetic field.
3 As the coils of the wire cross the magnetic field line, electric current
is generated. The current recharges the battery of the cell phone.

check your reading What is the source of energy for a cell phone generator?

How a Cell Phone Generator Works

An emergency cell phone charger uses a generator to produce
electric current.
3
Electric current recharges
the phone’s battery.

1
2
Turning the handle
The turning
provides kinetic
motion rotates
energy to the gen-
coils of wire gears
erator, making the
inside a magnet.
gears rotate.
This rotation
produces electric
copper wire
current.

generator

What function does the magnet shaft

magnet
in the generator serve?

428 Unit 3: Electricity and Magnetism

Direct and Alternating Currents
Think about how current flows in all of the circuits that you have
studied so far. Electrons flow from one end of a battery or generator,
through the circuit, and eventually back to the battery or generator.
Electrons that flow in one direction produce one of two types of current.
• A direct current (DC) is electric charge that flows in one
direction only. Direct current is produced by batteries and by
DC generators such as the cell phone generator.
• An alternating current (AC) is a flow of electric charge that
reverses direction at regular intervals. The current that enters
your home and school is an alternating current.
check your reading What is the difference between direct current and
alternating current?

Direct currents and alternating currents are pro-

duced by different generators. In an AC generator,
the direction in which charge flows depends upon
the direction in which the magnet moves in relation commutator
to the coil. Because generators use a rotating electro-
magnet, the poles of the electromagnet alternate
between moving toward and moving away from the
magnet. The result is a current that reverses with
coil of
each half-rotation of the coil. wire
The illustration on the right shows a simple DC
generator. DC generators are very similar to AC gen-
erators. The main difference is that DC generators
have a commutator that causes the current to flow magnet
in only one direction.
Many things in your home can work with either DC generator

direct or alternating currents. In light bulbs, for

instance, the resistance to motion of the electrons in
the filament makes the filament glow. It doesn’t matter in which
direction the current is moving.
Some appliances can use only direct
current. The black box that is on the plug
of some devices is an AC–DC converter.
AC–DC converters change the alternating
current to direct current. For example,
laptop computers use converters like the
one shown in the photograph on the right.
In a desktop computer, the converter is
part of the power supply unit.

Chapter 12: Magnetism 429

 Electric Current
SKILL FOCUS
How can you identify the current? Inferring
PROCEDURE
1 Wrap the wire tightly around the middle of the compass 10–15 times. Leave MATERIALS
• piece of wire
about 30 cm of wire free at each end. Tape the wire to the back of the com-
• compass
pass to keep it in place. • ruler
• tape
2 Sand the ends of the wire with sandpaper to expose about 2 cm of
• sandpaper
copper on each end. Arrange the compass on your desk so that the • D cell (battery)
needle is parallel to, or lined up with, the coil. This will serve as
your current detector. TIME
15 minutes
3 Tape one end of the wire to one terminal of the battery. Touch
the other end of the wire to the other battery terminal. Record
your observations.
4 Observe the current detector as you tap the end of the
wire to the battery terminal at a steady pace. Speed up or
slow down your tapping until the needle of the compass
alternates back and forth. Record your observations.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
• What did you observe?
• What type of current did you detect in step 3? in step 4?
How did you identify the type of current?

CHALLENGE How is this setup similar to an

AC generator?

The energy that powers a car comes from burning gasoline, but the
car also contains many devices that use electrical energy. Some of them
are familiar—the headlights, turn signals, radio, power windows, and
door locks. Others may be less familiar, such as the spark plugs that
ignite the gasoline, the fuel and oil pumps that move fluids in the
engine, and the air conditioner.
A car’s engine includes a generator to provide current to its electrical
devices. As the engine runs, it converts gasoline to kinetic energy.
Some of that energy is transferred to the generator by a belt attached
to its shaft. Inside the generator, a complex coil of copper wires turns
in a magnetic field, generating a current that operates the electrical
devices of the car.
The generator also recharges the battery, so that power is available
when the engine is not running. Because the generator in most cars sup-
plies alternating current, a car generator is usually called an alternator.

Check Your Reading What function does a generator in a car serve?

430 Unit 3: Electricity and Magnetism

Magnets are used to control voltage.
A transformer is a device that increases or decreases voltage.
Transformers use magnetism to control the amount of voltage.
A transformer consists of two coils of wire that are wrapped
around an iron ring.
An alternating current from the voltage source in the first coil
produces a magnetic field. The iron ring becomes an electromagnet.
Because the current alternates, the magnetic field is constantly
changing. The second coil is therefore within a changing magnetic
field. Current is generated in the second coil. If the two coils have the
same number of loops, the voltage in the second coil will be the same
as the voltage in the first coil.
A change in the voltage is Step-Down Transformer
caused when the two coils have
iron ring
different numbers of loops. If
the second coil has fewer loops
than the first, as in the illustra-
tion, the voltage is decreased.
This is called a step-down trans- coil of wire
former. On the other hand, if
the second coil has more loops
than the first, the voltage in the second circuit will be higher than the
original voltage. This transformer is called a step-up transformer.
Transformers are used in the distribution of current. Current is sent
over power lines from power plants at a very high voltage. Step-down
transformers on utility poles, such as the one pictured on the right,
reduce the voltage available for use in homes. Sending current at
high voltages minimizes the amount of energy lost to resistance
along the way.

KEY CONCEPTS CRITICAL THINKING CHALLENGE

1. What is necessary for a 4. Apply Many radios can be 6. Apply European power
magnetic field to produce operated either by plugging companies deliver current at
an electric current? them into the wall or by using 220 V. Draw the design for a
2. Explain how electric generators batteries. How can a radio use step-down transformer that
convert kinetic energy into either source of current? would let you operate a CD
electrical energy. 5. Draw Conclusions Suppose player made to work at 110 V
that all of the electrical devices in France.
3. Compare and contrast the
ways in which direct current in a car stop working. Explain
and alternating current are what the problem might be.
generated.

Chapter 12: Magnetism 431