Bharatiya Vidya BhaVan’s

GIPCL Academy

Name: Mansi Patel

Class: XII
Roll No.:
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Mansi Patel of class
12th has successfully completed the project
work in Physics for class XII practical
examination of the Central Board of
Secondary Education in year 2017-18.

External’s Signature Teacher’s Signature

Principal’s Signature
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of

gratitude to my teacher Mr. Gaurav Singh as well as
our principal Mrs. Trishla Shah who gave me the
golden opportunity to do this wonderful project,
which also helped me in doing a lot of Research and
I came to know about so many new things I am
really thankful to them.
Secondly I would also like to thank my parents and
friends who helped me a lot in finalizing this project
within the limited time frame.
Introduction
A tangent galvanometer is an early measuring
instrument used for the measurement of electric
current. It works by using a compass needle to
compare a magnetic field generated by the
unknown current to the magnetic field of the Earth.
It gets its name from its operating principle, the
tangent law of magnetism, which states that the
tangent of the angle a compass needle makes is
proportional to the ratio of the strengths of the two
perpendicular magnetic fields. It was first described by Claude Pouillet in
1837.
A tangent galvanometer consists of a coil of
insulated copper wire wound on a circular
non-magnetic frame. The frame is mounted
vertically on a horizontal base provided with
levelling screws. The coil can be rotated on a
vertical axis passing through its centre. A
compass box is mounted horizontally at the
centre of a circular scale. It consists of a tiny,
powerful magnetic needle pivoted at the
centre of the coil. The magnetic needle is free
to rotate in the horizontal plane. The circular scale is divided into four
quadrants. Each quadrant is graduated from 0° to 90°. A long thin
aluminium pointer is attached to the needle at its centre and at right angle
to it. To avoid errors due to parallax, a plane mirror is mounted below the
compass needle.
Aim

To study Earth’s magnetic field

using a Tangent Galvanometer.
Apparatus

 Tangent Galvanometer
 Ammeter
 Battery
 Rheostat
 Spirit level
 Four way key(commutator)
 Connecting wires etc.
Theory

When current is passed through the coil of tangent galvanometer, a

magnetic field develops along the axis of circular coil, perpendicular to
plane of the coil. The magnetic needle is therefore under the combined
influence of two mutually perpendicular magnetic fields-
i. B- Magnetic field due to current in coil.
ii. BH – horizontal component of Earth’s magnetic field.

Under the action of these two fields, the needle deflects and comes to
rest at angle θ, with the direction of BH . Hence according to Tangent
Law
B= BH tan θ (i)
If the radius of the coil is ‘r’, ‘n’ is number of turns in coil and ‘i’ is
the current flowing in the coil, then intensity of magnetic field B will
be
B=μ0 n i/ 2r (ii)
Thus, from (i) and (ii)

μ0 n i/ 2r= BH tan θ
or BH = μ0 n i/ 2r tan θ
Procedure

1. Make the connections as shown in the circuit diagram.

2. Level the compass box in Tangent Galvanometer using spirit level.
3. Now rotate the coil and align its plane in the plane of magnetic
needle, i.e., the image of coil in the
mirror of compass box and magnetic
needle coincide. Then look at it from
vertically above. In this condition the
coil is the plane of magnetic
meridian.
4. Keeping the coil fixed, rotate the
compass box till the aluminium pointer points along the zero-zero of
circular scale.
5. To confirm that the coil is in the magnetic meridian, pass the current
through coil in clockwise and anti-clockwise direction using the
commutator. If the deflection of aluminium pointer is same or nearly
same in either direction, then setting of T.G. coil is proper.
6. Now connect the n (100,200 or any number) no. of turns of tangent
galvanometer and adjust the rheostat to change the value of current in
circuit in such a way that the pointer deflects between 30° and 70°.
7. Take the readings for different values of current and corresponding
values of deflection of needle on circular scale
Observation

Least count of ammeter =

No. of turns of coil connected=
Inner radius of the coil, r1 =
Outer radius of the coil, r2 =
Mean radius, R=r1 +r2/2
S.No. Current Deflection in compass box when Mean tanθ
‘i’ current is in Θ= (Θ1 +
(in A) One direction Opposite Θ2 + Θ3 +
direction Θ4 )/4
One Other One Other
end of end of end of end of
pointer pointer pointer pointer
Θ1 Θ2 Θ3 Θ4
Calculation

Putting the value of i, θ, n and r in the relation, B H = μ0 ni/2r tanθ, we find the value
of horizontal component of earth’s magnetic field.
Result

The magnetic field of Earth at the place of experiment is found to

be=..........................T

Precautions and Sources of

Error:

1. There should not be any magnetic material near the tangent galvanometer.
2. The plane of T.G. coil must be in the magnetic meridian.
3. The compass box must remain horizontal.
4. The deflection θ must be between 30° and 70°.
Bibliography

 Wikipedia -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanometer#Tangent_galvanom
eter
 Google images
 Oxford Reference