Inductors -Manish Anand

Definition:
An inductor or reactor is a passive electrical component that can store energy in a magnetic field created by the electric current passing through. An inductor tends to resist any change in the amount of current flowing through it. That is the reason current lags wrt. voltage in an inductor.{A capacitor resists any change in voltage across it.So voltage lags wrt. Current}

VISUALISATION
An inductor can be though of as a large water wheel in a river. Where the river starts flowing and the water wheel is stopped it resists the flow of water until it starts to move and is up to speed with the river. If the river stops the momentum of the water wheel will continue to make it spin pushing the water forward for a short amount of time. An inductor does pretty much that. When electricity first passes though the inductor there is a large resistance until its magnetic field is up. Once the power stops flowing the magnetic field collapses into the inductor forcing the electricity forward until the field has completely collapsed.

An Experiment

when you close the switch- the bulb burns brightly and then gets dimmer. when you open the switch- the bulb burns very brightly and then quickly goes out.

Experiment Explanation
The light bulb is a resistor . The wire in the coil has much lower resistance, so what you would expect when you turn on the switch is for the bulb to glow very dimly. Most of the current should follow the low-resistance path through the loop. What happens instead is that : when you close the switch- the bulb burns brightly and then gets dimmer. when you open the switch- the bulb burns very brightly and then quickly goes out. The reason for this strange behavior is the inductor. When current first starts flowing in the coil, the coil wants to build up a magnetic field. While the field is building, the coil inhibits the flow of current. Once the field is built, current can flow normally through the wire. When the switch gets opened, the magnetic field around the coil keeps current flowing in the coil until the field collapses. This current keeps the bulb lit for a period of time even though the switch is open. In other words, an inductor can store energy in its magnetic field, and an inductor tends to resist any change in the amount of current flowing through it.

FACTS
An inductor energy in the form of magnetic field. When current through an inductor is increased or decreased, the inductor "resists" the change by producing a voltage between its leads in opposing polarity to the change.

Charging & Discharging

Charging: When the current through an inductor is increased, it drops a voltage opposing the direction of electron flow, acting as a power load. In this condition the inductor is said to be charging, because there is an increasing amount of energy being stored in its magnetic field Discharging: Conversely, when the current through the inductor is decreased, it drops a voltage aiding the direction of electron flow, acting as a power source. In this condition the inductor is said to be discharging, because its store of energy is decreasing as it releases energy from its magnetic field to the rest of the circuit

Arrow is in the direction of electron flow[opposite to that of current]

Rapid change of current

In this circuit, a lamp is connected across the terminals of an inductor. A switch is used to control current in the circuit, and power is supplied by a 6 volt battery. It takes about 70 volts to ionize the neon gas inside a neon bulb like this, so the bulb cannot be lit on the 6 volts produced by the battery Switch is opened. Such a rapid change of current (from some magnitude to zero in very little time) will induce a very high voltage across the inductor. The voltage produced is usually more than enough to light the neon lamp, if only for a brief moment until the current decays to zero:

Series & Parallel connection

Inductance of a Solenoid and a Toroid

Solenoid Toroid

REVIEW:
Inductors react against changes in current by dropping voltage in the polarity necessary to oppose the change. When an inductor is faced with an increasing current, it acts as a load: dropping voltage as it absorbs energy (negative on the current entry side and positive on the current exit side, like a resistor). When an inductor is faced with a decreasing current, it acts as a source: creating voltage as it releases stored energy (positive on the current entry side and negative on the current exit side, like a battery). The ability of an inductor to store energy in the form of a magnetic field (and consequently to oppose changes in current) is called inductance. It is measured in the unit of the Henry (H). Inductors used to be commonly known by another term: choke. In large power applications, they are sometimes referred to as reactors.

Reference
1) http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_15/3.html 2) http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/indsol.html#c1 3) http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/magnetic/indtor.html#c1