INTRODUCTION

Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from the Earth's interior to where it meets the solar
wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun. Its magnitude at the Earth's surface ranges from 25 to 65 microteslas (0.25 to 0.65
gauss).The North and South magnetic poles wander widely, but sufficiently slowly for ordinary compasses to remain useful for navigation.

While the North and South magnetic poles are usually located near the geographic poles, they slowly and continuously move over geological time
scales, but sufficiently slowly for ordinary compasses to remain useful for navigation. However, at irregular intervals averaging several hundred
thousand years, Earth's field reverses and the North and South Magnetic Poles respectively, abruptly switch places. These reversals of the
geomagnetic poles leave a record in rocks that are of value to paleomagnetists in calculating geomagnetic fields in the past. Such information in
turn is helpful in studying the motions of continents and ocean floors in the process of plate tectonics.

Magnetosphere is the region above the ionosphere and extends several tens of thousands of kilometers into space, protecting the Earth from the
charged particles of the solar wind and cosmic rays that would otherwise strip away the upper atmosphere, including the ozone layer that protects
the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation.

ABOUT THE TOPIC

TANGENT GALVANOMETER

Tangent galvanometer is an early measuring instrument for small electric currents. It consists of a coil of insulated copper wire wound on a circular non-magnetic frame. Its working is based on the principle of the tangent law of
magnetism. When a current is passed through the circular coil, a magnetic field (B) is produced at the center of the coil in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the coil. The TG is arranged in such a way that the horizontal
component of earth’s magnetic field (Bh) is in the direction of the plane of the coil. The magnetic needle is then under the action of two mutually perpendicular fields. If θ is the deflection of the needle, then according to tangent

law,

Let I be the current passing through the coil of radius a with n turns, then the magnetic field generated by the current carrying coil is,

(a is the radius of the coil)

Equating (1) and (2), we get,

The left hand side of equation (4) is a constant and is called the reduction factor K of the given Tangent Galvanometer.

Now from the equation (3) & (5), the horizontal intensity of Earth’s magnetic field Bh is,
 APPLICATIONS

❖ Tangent Galvanometer can be used to measure the magnitude of the horizontal component of the geomagnetic field.

❖ The principle can be used to compare the galvanometer constants.

EXPERIMENT

AIM

➢ To find the horizontal intensity of the Earth’s magnetic field

➢ To determine the reduction factor of the given tangent galvanometer (K).

APPARATUS

Tangent galvanometer (TG), commutator (C), rheostat (R), battery (E), ammeter (A), key (k), connecting wires, meter scale etc.

Principle & Formulae

● The reduction factor of T.G is K=I/tanθ, where I is the current flowing through the T.G which produces the deflection θ.

● The horizontal intensity of Earth’s magnetic field at a place. Bh = µ0nK/2r, where n is the number of turns of the coil, µ0 =
4π×10-7 NA-2 is the permeability of free space, K is the reduction factor of the T.G and r is the radius of the coil of the
T.G.

PROCEDURE

• The preliminary adjustments are carried out as follows.

a) The leveling screws at the base of TG are adjusted so that the circular turn table is horizontal and the plane of the circular coil is vertical.

b) The circular coil is rotated so that its plane is in the magnetic meridian i.e., along the north-south direction.

c) The compass box alone is rotated till the aluminium pointer reads 0° − 0°.

• The connections are made as shown in Figure(c).

• The number of turns n is selected and the circuit is switched on.

• The range of current through TG is chosen in such a way that the deflection of the aluminium pointer lies between 30° − 60°.

• A suitable current is allowed to pass through the circuit, the deflections θ1 and θ2 are noted from two ends of the aluminium pointer.

• Now the direction of current is reversed using commutator C, the deflections θ3 and θ4 in the opposite direction are noted.

• The mean value θ of θ1, θ2, θ3 and θ4 is calculated and tabulated.

• The reduction factor k is calculated for each case and it is found that k is a constant.

• The experiment is repeated for various values of current and the readings are noted and tabulated.

• The radius of the circular coil is found by measuring the circumference of the coil using a thread around the coil.

• From the values of r, n and k, the horizontal component of Earth’s magnetic field is determined.

Commutator

It is a kind of switch employed in electrical circuits, electric motors and electric generators. It is used to reverse the direction of current in the
circuit.

OBSERVATION TABLE

Table for Radius:

Sl No Outer Diameter (cm) Inner Diameter Mean Diameter (cm) Radius

(cm) (cm)

1 17.0 14 15.5 7.75

2 17.1 14.1 15.7 7.85

3 17.1 14.0 15.6 7.8

Mean Radius = 7.75+7.85.7.8/3

= 7.8 cm

= 0.078 m

Table for Reduction Factor

DEFLECTION IN TG(DEGREE) REDUCTION

CURRENT MEAN Tanθ FACTOR
Sl No IN θ
(mA) θ1 θ2 θ3 θ4

1 45 30 30 32 32 31 0.601 0.075

2 65 40 40 42 42 41 0.869 0.075
 3 90 50 50 51 51 50.5 1.213 0.074

4 135 60 60 60 60 60 1.732 0.076

5 195 70 70 71 71 70.5 2.824 0.069

Mean K = 0.075+0.075+0.074+0.076+0.069/5

= 0.0738

Horizontal component of earth magnetic field BH