Helmholtz Coil: ever built one before?

[Tesla_pasta]

'ello, playgroud!

This weekend I am going to attempt to build my very own Helmholtz coil! For those of us unfamiliar with the concept, a Helmholtz coil is essentially 2 magnetic loops a measured distance away from each other to create a uniform feild in the middle. I am doing this for an important school project (Yay school?).

I post this here in hopes that someone on the playground has built one before and could perhaps offer some advice on how to make one from scratch. I am fairly certian I can do this on my own, but any advice about cheap materials, easy mistakes, avoiding lightning or such would be greatly appreciated!

I have about a 100$ budget, and a week to do it! Wish me luck.

*flys away into distace* "Foooooooooor scieeeeeeeeeeeeeence!"

[Flame of Anor]

Good luck!

*has no useful and sane advice*

[Ravens_cry]

I will make sure to wish you good luck, even though you did not specify.:smalltongue:
Though less conductive than copper, with such a budget you are probably going to want to use aluminium wiring unless you seriously luck out.

[Talesin]

I can't offer any direct advice, given i've never used them before, but it just seems like you need 1 long (very long) piece of copper wire, wrap it around 2 tubes that are the same size and then have a battery/other DC producing device that provides a current. (Although not a fantastic source, wikipedia does have a vague schematic for how to do it. You may want to add a resistor or something like that so you can measure the voltage/current in the circuit. This could help you with other calculations you need to do.)

Things I would bare in mind thinking back to my physics, which admittidly has been a long time as i'm now a chemist, you need to have the same number of coils on both side to creature a uniform field or you'll have a tighter field on one side.

What is the experiment for if you don't mind me asking? As in what are you trying to do with them or are you just doing it as a proof of concept? Just from browsing wikipedia if a third larger coil, made from the same piece of copper wiring, is added it can give you a more uniform field in the centre of the two coils. This is a maxwell coil, but overall I wouldn't complicate things with this.

Good luck though, sounds like this actually could be a cool experiment. I miss being able to play with science rather than having to do it for a career...

[Brother Oni]

Good luck though, sounds like this actually could be a cool experiment. I miss being able to play with science rather than having to do it for a career...

Sounds like you're disqualified from the Amateur Scientist of the year (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/sywtbas/) thing that Radio 4's running as well. :smallsigh:


Back to the OP, reading up on the wikipedia page, I think the best start would be to work out how big a field you need, then work backwards to how many coils you need and the battery size. Once you have the size and number of coils, you can calculate the amount of wire you need.

Once you have the measurements for your ideal helmholtz coil, work out how much that will cost, compare to your budget, then adjust the size/coils/battery accordingly.
Don't forget you'll probably need some sort of stand and a method for securing the coils so they don't uncurl/fall over.

[Tesla_pasta]

Thanks, e'body!

I've been thinking about it, and I realized I dont actually need a specific strength or size. I just need one with a field strong enough that either on the two coils would visibly attract iron filings on its own.

The alluminum wire seems like a good idea, as long as it is insulated.

Also, imma stick with the Helmholtz coil, rather than the triple coil, because I want the strenght of the field to shift more rapidly. Thanks everyone for your input!

You stay classy San Diego Playground

[Talesin]

Did you get it to work in the end Tesla? Been away for a few days and just remembered that you'd posted about this after someone at work mentioned they'd built one for some experiment or other.

And yeah sadly Brother Oni I've been working professionally for a science company for about 18 months now. But i've actually never heard of that competition and I work, part time, for a group in England looking for people like that so I might have to see if they've seen the link. Cheers for the help there!

[The Succubus]

So this thread is about...

:smallcool:

....Tesla's Coil?