Electricity Basics: Understanding Electromotive Force (EMF)

AI Thread Summary
Electromotive force (EMF) in a generator is defined as the mechanical energy converted into electrical energy per unit charge, measured in joules per coulomb or volts. It represents the energy required to move a unit charge through the generator, and is closely related to voltage. When a generator is connected to an external circuit, the electrical energy is transformed into other forms, such as heat in resistors. The internal resistance of the generator affects the effective voltage, with open circuit voltage being higher than the effective voltage due to this resistance. Understanding EMF is crucial for analyzing energy conversion and conservation in electrical circuits.
Basel A
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
A generator is charcterized by its internal resistance and electromotive force E. What is meant by electromotive force..(please i need perfect answer)
 
Physics news on Phys.org
The standard definition (for a generator) would be "The electromotive force of a generator (dynamo) is the amount of mechanical energy converted into electrical energy when unit charge passes through it." (Measured in joule per coulomb or volt)
The generator has to do work to move charge through it; in doing so the charges gain electrical energy. When connected to an external circuit, this energy is converted into other forms, for example heat in resistors, when the charges flow around that circuit.
 
There is no "perfect" definition.
try wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromotive_force for a further discussion.
A generator, or alternator, is characterized by a lot more than the two (important) factors you stated.
 
as i have learned , electromotive force is the the energy requires to drive +1 charge(unit charge) along the path.. say you have a circuit which describes as a closed path with 'no' any resistance... then you don't have any disturbance to drive any charge along that path..that means the required EMF is zero to drive the charges(current).. and this EMF is very much similar as the voltage(well I don't see a much difference)... and for a generator EMF is the same definition and the internal resistance is the resistance inside that generator(independent of the external circuit).. simply EMF is the voltage of the generator... but there is something to consider when you take the open circuit voltage and the effective voltage... open circuit voltage of a gen is higher than the effective one.. (this difference comes bcoz of the internal resis)...sketch a circuit diagram with internal resis... and don't forget EMF is an energy... again take into consideration , if you use EMF to drive charges that energy EMF converts to the energies like heat(in resistors), maybe light(if there are bulbs in the circuit) etc.. because you use EMF against those disturbances(resistors, motor loads etc) and there is something that should be happened to that used EMF energy...(energy conservation).. hope this would be helpful..
 
Thread 'Motional EMF in Faraday disc, co-rotating magnet axial mean flux'
So here is the motional EMF formula. Now I understand the standard Faraday paradox that an axis symmetric field source (like a speaker motor ring magnet) has a magnetic field that is frame invariant under rotation around axis of symmetry. The field is static whether you rotate the magnet or not. So far so good. What puzzles me is this , there is a term average magnetic flux or "azimuthal mean" , this term describes the average magnetic field through the area swept by the rotating Faraday...
Back
Top