Lenz's Law U-Rail - Frederiksen [80917]

Lenz’s Law is demonstrated with this device by sending a magnetic coil down a nearly vertical aluminum 1 metre U-rail. In this way, the movement can be tracked all the way. The U-rail is equipped with a hook so that it can be hung in a force sensor. Two cylindrical neodymium magnets and two stainless steel “dummies” are included. The fall time through an electrically conducting pipe will be 10 times longer for a magnet than for a non-magnetic plumb bob with the same mass and dimensions. This is because the falling magnet creates eddy currents in the pipe, which in turn form a magnetic field with the opposite direction to the magnet’s field. The result is that the magnet is slowed down with a force proportional to the speed, but in the opposite direction.