• Question: what do electro magnets do?

    Asked by 528prtb26 to Vicky on 12 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Vicky Bayliss

      Vicky Bayliss answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      Lots of things!
      they are used in transformers in the power supply system so that power can be transmitted long distances at high voltages to reduce power losses, but then reduced to a safe voltage before entering your home.
      they are also an important part of an MRI scanner which are regularly used in hospitals across the country because they can produce images of what is inside your body – so they can help doctors diagnose different images. You may even know someone who has had one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_resonance_imaging
      The ones I design are for particle accelerators – so you may have learnt at school that if something is charged, and moves through a magnetic field, then it feels a force. So in a particle accelerator, the charged particles are moving very fast and they are steered by using magnetic fields.
      Some motors are also described as ‘electric motors’ – which use electromagnets in them.
      I hope that’s a good start to answering your questions!

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