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 PAPER
Phys. Educ. 58 (2023) 035008 (7pp) iopscience.org/ped

Measuring g using
magnetic induction
Ihab F Riad
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, University of Khartoum, PO Box 321, 11115
Khartoum, Sudan

E-mail: ifriad@gmail.com

Abstract
In this article we present an open source setup for measuring the acceleration
due to gravity g utilising Faraday’s law of induction. The signal is acquired
using an Arduino Uno board, then displayed and analysed using a Python
based graphical user interface. The acceleration due to gravity g is calculated
by measuring the crossing times of a bar magnet as it falls simultaneously
through a number of coils.

Keywords: magnetic induction, acceleration due to gravity, Arduino, open source

Supplementary material for this article is available online

1. Introduction where ⃗B is the magnetic field strength and ⃗A is the

When the magnetic flux piercing through a wire
loop changes it induces an electric potential across
the free ends of the wire loop. This induced elec-
tric potential is known as the induced electromot-
ive force (emf) and is characterised by Faraday’s
law of induction (1):
dΦB
V = −N , (1)
dt
where V is the induced emf, N the number of turns
in the coil and ΦB is the magnetic flux through
the coil cross sectional area. The magnetic flux is
related to the magnetic field as:
ˆ
ΦB = ⃗B · d⃗A; (2)
Original Content from this work may be used
under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work
must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the
work, journal citation and DOI.
cross sectional area of the coil through which the
magnetic flux pierces.
The voltage induced by a magnet when
passing through a coil was investigated by a
number of authors [2–9]. Some authors looked
at the connections between the magnet and coil
relative velocity and the induced signal shape,
amplitude and width. Others discussed different
signal acquisition methods [3–6, 10–15]. Applic-
ations, for example measuring the speed of a
magnet passing through a coil were discussed
[2, 4, 7].
In this work we describe an experiment
for the undergraduate experimental physics cur-
riculum to measure the acceleration due to grav-
ity g from the signal acquired when a bar magnet
fells consecutively passes through a series of coils.
Signal acquisition and measurements were carried
out using an Arduino Uno board and a Python
GUI (both the Arduino Sketch and Python code
are available as supplementary material for down-
load) [1].

1361-6552/23/035008+7$33.00 1 © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd

I F Riad
2. The physical model
A recurring theme in the analysis of the induced
signal as a bar magnet passes through a coil is to
model the bar magnet as a magnetic dipole of pole
strength ρ and separation L [3, 4, 6, 7, 10].
Another approach was discussed by Dasqupta
and Nicklin where they treated the magnet as
a uniformly magnetised cylinder equivalent to a
cylinder current sheet. Nicklin showed that both
models of the bar magnets are reliable when
studying the induced signal while keeping the
ratio between the coil radius R and the mag-
net length L larger than 0.4 i.e R/L > 0.4. They
noticed a deviation between their models predic-
tions and the acquired signal for R/L ≲ 0.4.
For the purpose of this work we treat the bar
magnet as a magnetic dipole [4]. According to
the work by Nicklin the amplitude of the induced
voltage V is related to the instantaneous relative
velocity v and the separation z between the bar
magnet and the coil as in (3):

( )2 [ ( )2 ]− 32
NvP l 2 l while the other to the analogue pin A0 (any other
V= z+ R + z+
2  2 2
[ ( )2 ]− 12 [ ( )2 ]− 12
2 l 2 l
− R + z+ + R + z−
2 2
[ ] 
( )2 ( )2 2 
− 3
l l
− z− R2 + z − , (3)
2 2  starts acquiring and transmitting the voltage at
where P is the magnet dipole strength, l the effect-
ive length of the bar magnet and R the coil radius.
Figures 1(a) and (b) shows the induced signal
for a magnet passing through a coil as a function
of the z and the travel time t of the falling magnet
respectively.
It is worth noting here that the non-symmetry
in the shape of the signal is due to the difference
in bar magnet speed as it approaches and then
recedes away from the coil.
Three distinct points of interest shows up in
the signal figure 1. Two of these points are the two
peaks while the third is where the signal traverse
the line V = 0. The two peaks correlates with the
centre of the bar magnet crossing the points z =
± 2l figures 2(a) and (c). The third point is when
the centre of the bar magnet passes through the
May 2023
centre of the coil figure 2(b). For this to be true
the height of the coil need to be much shorter than
the length of the bar magnet.
In the case that the coil’s height is compar-
able to that of the bar magnet the two peaks now
coincide with the centre of the bar magnet being at
distances 2l above and below the top and bottom
of the coil respectively. For the point where the
signal intercept the line V = 0 it would still cor-
relate with the centre of the bar magnet passing
the centre of the coil.
3. Signal acquisition
For the signal acquisition we used the ten-bit
analogue to digital converter features of the
Arduino Uno board. Arduino is an open source
hardware/software microcontroller based devel-
opment platform. It has the benefits of being open
source, cheap, easy to program and has a wide
community support.
The physical setup includes connecting one
end of the coil to the 3.3 V pin on the Arduino
analogue pin works equally well). The Arduino
UNO is then programmed to communicate with
a computer using the board serial port. The oper-
ation of the Arduino board is controlled through a
Python GUI figure 3.
The Arduino and upon instructed by the user
pin A0 and a time-stamp to the computer. It then
continues to do so till it is stopped by the user.
The Arduino sends the time stamp in nanoseconds
counted from the minute the Sketch started to
execute on the Arduino. The acquired data is
stored on the computer in a two column text file
for further analysis. It is important to note here
that the times measured by the Arduino are from
when then Arduino board is turned on. Hence they
cannot directly be used to measure the travel times
since the bar was released and to any other point.
The GUI has two drop menus to select the
appropriate serial port and it is baud rate respect-
ively. It also has a start/stop button for data acquis-
ition and another to plot the saved data files.
There are also up/down buttons and a text area to
facilitate the reading of the position along the time
axis in the plot area.
2 P hy s . E d u c . 5 8 ( 2 0 2 3 ) 0 3 5 0 0 8
 Measuring g using magnetic induction

Figure 1. The induced emf signal due to a bar magnet falling through a coil as a function of the separation z and
the travel time t.

Figure 2. Relative positions between coil and bar magnet corresponding to the three distinct points in the induced
signal.

Figure 3. The Python GUI used to control the data acquisition and analysis.

May 2023 3 P hy s . E d u c . 5 8 ( 2 0 2 3 ) 0 3 5 0 0 8
I F Riad

Figure 4. Acquired signal as the bar magnet free fall through five consecutive coils. Segments of signal due to
each coil are individually marked and labelled.

4. Setup and measurements magnet crossed the centre of the coils. The time
To carry out the measurements for the g we was read from the GUI by moving the vertical line
allowed a bar magnet (length 10 cm) to fall in the plot area to the point of interest (the crossing
through a series of five connected coils. The coils of the signal with the x-axis).
were distributed along a 1.5 m long plastic tube For an object in a free fall and starting from
with a 3.8 cm diametre. The coils are approx- rest its displacement S is related to its time of
imately 2 cm in height, 45 wingdings each and travel t as:
are made from #31 gauge insulated wire. The g
S = t2 , (4)
five coils are centred at 25.6, 47.7, 75.5, 105.1 2
and 138.6 cm respectively from the top of the or
tube. In this configuration a current of about √
√ g
240 mA passes through the coil. This current S= t. (5)
would cause a constant magnetic field to appear in 2
the coils. The effect of this induced magnetic field
Hence the time of travel tij between Si and Sj is:
on the measured value of g is further studied in
√
section 5. √ √ g
The signal acquired as the bar magnet fell Sj − Si = tji . (6)
2
through the five coils is shown in figure 4. The
individual segments of the signal corresponding Using the readings in table 1 and for any two
to the different coils are marked and labelled. You points we calculated their corresponding
(√ crossing
√ )
may notice here that segments D and E show times. The crossing times tji and Sj − Si are
different response than the other three segments, tabulated in table 2. √ √
this is due to mistakenly winding these two coils Plotting tji Vs. ( Sj − Si ) figure 5 and cal-
counter clockwise compared to the other coils. culating the slope of the straight line a value
In table 1 we give the time in seconds corres- of g = 9.75 m s−2 with a goodness of fit R2 ≈
ponding to the points when the centre of the bar 0.99 was calculated. The uncertainties in the

May 2023 4 P hy s . E d u c . 5 8 ( 2 0 2 3 ) 0 3 5 0 0 8
 Measuring g using magnetic induction
Table 1. Coils centres measured from the top of the
tube with respective passing times in seconds. Please
note that the times listed here are measured in ns from
the minute the Sketch started to execute on the Arduino
Uno.

Label S × 10−2 (m) t × 10−3 (sec)

A 25.6 11 847.704
B 47.7 11 928.704
C 75.5 12 009.704
D 105.1 12 080.204
E 138.6 12 150.704

Table 2. Crossing times tji between different coils and

√ √
their corresponding values of Sj − Si .
√ √
Sj − Si
[ 1]
Sj × 10−2 (m) Si × 10−2 (m) tji (sec) m2 √ √
Figure 5. Data points of tji Vs. Sj − Si (stars), best
47.7 25.6 0.0817 0.1847 fit line (solid red line) and the line using g = 9.81 m s−2
75.5 25.6 0.1641 0.3629 (green dashed line).
105.1 25.6 0.2335 0.5192
138.6 25.6 0.3030 0.6713 PuTTY or the similar can also be used to control,
75.5 47.7 0.0824 0.1794 acquire and save the data on a computer. This data
105.1 47.7 0.1517 0.3345 could be analysed using any data plotting tools or
138.6 47.7 0.2212 0.4866 a spreadsheet software.
105.1 75.5 0.0693 0.1563
138.6 75.5 0.1388 0.3084
138.6 105.1 0.0695 0.1521 5. Retardation due to induced magnetic
field
measurements of S and t dictate an uncertainty of As a magnet approaches or recedes from a coil the
±0.18 m s−2 in the value of g. magnetic field induced by the current through the
Originally a smaller tube, 2.5 cm in dia- coil will resist the motion of the magnet. This res-
metre, was used in the experiment. The values of istance to the motion of the magnet is expected to
g calculated then were always significantly smal- reduce the measured value of g. To quantify this
ler than 9.81 m s−2 , the best value measured effect we modelled the interaction between the bar
was ≈9.49 m s−2 . This deviation from the known magnet and the field induced by the current in the
value was found to be due to mechanical friction coil as to be an interaction between a magnetic
between the bar magnet and the tube as it fell dipole of dipole strength m and a magnetic field
through the tube. Hence, another tube with a lar- due to current passing through a coil B.
ger diametre of 3.8 cm was used to carry out the The Lagrangian for the bar magnet as it
experiment. moves through a coil can be written as:
Worth noting here that if a triggering mech-
anism is added then it would then be possible to L = K.E − P.E + m · B, (7)
directly measure the travel time from the moment
that the bar magnet is released to any other point. where the first two terms are simply the kinetic
In this case, using a single coil would be enough and potential energies of the falling bar magnet
to measure g using (4). To improve the accur- while the last term is the potential energy due to
acy in this case the measurements will have to be the interaction of a magnetic dipole and the mag-
repeated a number of times. netic field B.
While we used here a Python GUI to con- Since it is easier to measure the magnetic field
trol the experiment, a serial terminal program like (in units of Tesla) of a bar magnet directly using a

May 2023 5 P hy s . E d u c . 5 8 ( 2 0 2 3 ) 0 3 5 0 0 8
I F Riad

magnetometre the magnetic field of the bar mag-

net Br can be related to the magnetic moment as
1
m= Br V, (8)
µ◦
where µ◦ is the permittivity of free space and V
the volume of the bar magnet.
Combining this with the magnetic field B of
the coil given as
µ◦ NR2 I
B= , (9)
2 (z2 + R2 ) 32

where R, I and N are the coil radius, the cur-

rent through it and the number of turns in the coil
respectively. Hence L can now be written as:
1 1 NR2 IV Br
L = mv2 − mgz + . (10)
2 2 (z2 + R2 ) 32

Using the Euler Lagrange equation:

d ∂L ∂L
= , (11)
dt ∂v ∂z
the dependence of the acceleration a of the falling Figure 6. The setup in use in our intermediate physics
bar magnet is found as: lab.

3 NR2 IV Br
a = g− . (12)
2m (z2 + R2 ) 52
Using (12) and our values for the different
quantities in the equation we found that the effect
is insignificant, reducing g by less than 0.03%.
Hence it is fair to ignore such effect in our case.
Retardation due to induction is investigated in
this length as it was proposed at one point to be the
cause for the observed deviation of the measured
values of g from the it is known values as men-
tioned in section 4.
6. Conclusion
In this work we used the signal induced in a
series of coils as a bar magnet free falls through
them to measure the acceleration due to gravity
g. Starting from this year this setup was intro-
duced to our intermediate year experimental phys-
ics curriculum (see figure 6).
The setup used is based on open-source elec-
tronics and programming languages options. This
makes the experiment low budget, easy to repro-
duce and effectively illustrates the Faraday effect
for junior physics students.
Making available with this article all needed
codes is our way to encourage more people to avail
their experimental setups for the democratisation
of science specially in developing countries.
Data availability statement
All data that support the findings of this study are
included within the article (and any supplement-
ary files).
Received 17 September 2022, in final form 25 November 2022
Accepted for publication 4 January 2023
https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6552/acb033
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