Day: April 29, 2016

Hall effect and applications

Hall effect and applications

Hall effect and applications                   04/29/30

 

Have you ever wondered what would happen if a magnetic field interacted with a conductive plate? If so, then you have just independently postulated the hall effect. Suppose we have a current going through a conductive plate. As one know, there is a net movement of electrons within the material. Also known is that a magnetic field will cause a deflection of charge, it’s direction depending on it’s charge. So wouldn’t it be logical that if a magnetic field were to come in contact with the plate which contains a net movement of charge, That the charges would become polarized to each side of the plate? And as a second order effect, the new disposition of charges would cause a voltage to be created?

 

One very important application of the hall effect to the field of Mechanical Engineering is known at the Wheel speed sensor. If we put such a device parallel to a rotating wheel, then the rotation of the  gears of the wheel would induce a magnetic field. If one is able to measure the changing magnetic field, then it would only be logical that we would be able to obtain a measurement for the RPM

Quantum tunneling

Quantum tunneling

   Quantum tunneling        04/29/16

 

One of the most interesting effects in the universe is known as Quantum tunneling. In Quantum mechanics, it is possible for a particle to pass through a barrier without having enough internal classical energy! To illustrate, let’s use a ball being rolled up a hill an analogy. Under classical mechanics, a ball (particle) can only roll up a hill if it has enough energy to surmount it (break the barrier. In quantum conditions however, there is a certain percentage that the ball can absorb energy from it’s surroundings to finish the job! What is extremely extremely fascinating is that water has been shown to exhibit this effect! Imagine the possible consequences, such as water being able to pour through a substance without needing to cross classical barriers.