Faraday's law and motional EMF paradox

In summary, the conversation discusses the concept of motional emf in a practical dc machine. The diagram shows a circle representing a cylindrical iron rotor with a conductor wound around it and magnetic field lines from external magnetic poles crowded in the iron body. It is mentioned that when the rotor is rotated through 90°, there should be a change of flux associated with the conductor loop according to Faraday's law E=dΦ/dt. However, due to the high reluctance of the conductor, the number of lines actually cutting the conductor is negligible, which should result in a near-zero motional emf. This seems to contradict Faraday's law. The conversation then delves into the issue of the conductor physically
  • #36
cnh1995 said:
It is a loop. The diagram is the front view of a cylindrical iron rotor with a single turn of conductor (two orange circles are two slots).
So it is a rectangular loop? Two sides on the faces of the cylinder and two sides parallel to the axis of the cylinder?

cnh1995 said:
The field at the site of the conductor is much weaker than the field nearby. How is vxB emf still equal to dΦ/dt?
What changes? What is the v and the dΦ/dt? I don't know what final state you think it is changing to.
 
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  • #37
cnh1995 said:
It is a loop. The diagram is the front view of a cylindrical iron rotor with a single turn of conductor (two orange circles are two slots).

Yes. The field at the site of the conductor is much weaker than the field nearby. How is vxB emf still equal to dΦ/dt?
See the link that @Dale provided in post #34 to answer this question. I think it provides a very good answer. Meanwhile, additional comment is that the ## v \times B ## is part of the EMF, as described in the "link", but it appears that this portion of the EMF, if I am interpreting it correctly, is not an electric field. In any case, I found the "link" quite interesting.
 
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  • #38
"The physical reasons are different."
Only the observer reference frame is different.
In both cases there is a force given by q(E+vxB).
 
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  • #39
Dale said:
So it is a rectangular loop? Two sides on the faces of the cylinder and two sides parallel to the axis of the cylinder?
Yes.
Dale said:
What changes? What is the v and the dΦ/dt? I don't know what final state you think it is changing to.
The loop is initially vertical and contains zero flux. Now, if the rotor body is rotated through 90 degrees, the loop becomes horizontal and contains all the flux. This change in flux is quite large and hence, dΦ/dt is large. During the rotation of the rotor, the conductor loop will have an angular velocity ω and linear velocity v=rω, where r is the radius of the cylindrical rotor. Hence, motional emf Blv is induced in the conductor loop due to the vxB force on the electrons of the conductor.
As per Faraday's law, motional emf Blv should be equal to dΦ/dt but since the B field at the site of the conductor is much weaker than the field nearby, motional emf Blv is also very small, while dΦ/dt is very large.
I want to know how motional emf=dΦ/dt in this case? First of all, is it correct to say "motional emf is always equal to the rate of change of flux"?
If anything is still unclear from my wording, please tell me (English is not my native language). I'll try to upload a clearer diagram.
 
  • #40
Charles Link said:
In any case, I found the "link" quite interesting.
It is indeed interesting..:smile:
But it's going to take me a while to digest all the math in that article as I'm not so good at vector calculus...
 
  • #41
Thanks for the clarification. I now understand your proposed scenario.
cnh1995 said:
but since the B field at the site of the conductor is much weaker than the field nearby
That is no longer true as it rotates.

cnh1995 said:
First of all, is it correct to say "motional emf is always equal to the rate of change of flux"?
Yes, see the derivation I linked to earlier in the Wiki article
 
  • #42
Dale said:
That is no longer true as it rotates.
So as the loop rotates, the B field at the site of the conductor is not weak? Doesn't the high reluctance of the conductor affect the field when the loop is rotating? Does the conductor exclude field lines only when it is at rest and cut all the field lines while it is moving?
 
  • #43
cnh1995 said:
Doesn't the high reluctance of the conductor affect the field when the loop is rotating?
Certainly it "affects it", but "affects it" is not the same as "makes it always negligible".

Reluctance isn't magic. It is the magnetic equivalent of resistance. You can still get current through a large resistor.

cnh1995 said:
Does the conductor exclude field lines only when it is at rest?
If you like to use the field lines concept then it should be obvious that the only way for field lines to go from outside to inside the loop is for them to cut across the loop. During that time the B field at the loop is not negligible.
 
  • #44
Dale said:
During that time the B field at the loop is not negligible.
Thanks for the explanation!
Just a couple of questions for confirmation..
So when the conductor is rotating, it is first cutting the field lines as they can't move from inside to outside without being cut, right? Hence, can I say that the conductor cuts all the field lines while rotating as if it didn't have a high reluctance and hence the vxB force is strong enough such that motional emf is equal to dΦ/dt?
 
  • #45
The rest seems fine except...
cnh1995 said:
as if it didn't have a high reluctance
I wouldn't go that far. It has a high reluctance, but that doesn't mean that there is never any situation where it has a magnetic field going through it.

Similarly, if a resistor has a high resistance, you can still get current through it, but you wouldn't claim that it was as if it didn't have a high resistance.
 
  • #46
Thank you very much for your time @Dale!:smile:
You've been really great! This question was bugging me for a very long time and I think I've got a satisfactory answer now.
Thanks a lot @Simon Bridge, @Charles Link for your help!:smile:.
 
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  • #47
Wel done and no worries.
 

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