The diagram shows a coil launcher in a factory that moves small steel caps along a conveyor. A short pulse of current is sent through a coil near the cap. T...
Question 1 Report
The diagram shows a coil launcher in a factory that moves small steel caps along a conveyor. A short pulse of current is sent through a coil near the cap. The coil becomes an electromagnet and produces a magnetic force on the cap. A sensor controls the pulse length so that each cap reaches the next station without hitting the glass guard. The current must be switched off before the next cap arrives. The engineer is investigating how changing the current affects the force on each cap.
(a) What makes the coil an electromagnet? [1]
(b) Which change increases the magnetic field of the coil? [2]
(c) What happens when the control system switches off the current, and why is this useful? [3]
Answer Details
(a) Current flowing through the coil makes it an electromagnet [1].
(b) Increasing the current increases the magnetic field [1]. Increasing the number of turns, or adding a soft iron core, also increases it [1]. [2 marks]
(c) When the current is switched off, the coil loses most of its magnetism [1]. The magnetic force on the cap decreases or stops [1], preventing continued acceleration and allowing controlled positioning [1]. [3 marks]
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