Re: Inductance

[Bob Sciamanda <trebor@VELOCITY.NET>]

It might be noted that in the typical closed circuit, the non conservative
forces act on the carriers only while they are traversing the "active EMF
device" (a cell, a transformer secondary, an armature, a Van de Graff belt,
etc).

In the external circuit, the carriers are typically being driven by  a
conservative E field - the field generated by the charge distributions
established during the start up transient.

Bob

Bob Sciamanda (W3NLV)
Physics, Edinboro Univ of PA (em)
trebor@velocity.net
www.velocity.net/~trebor
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ludwik Kowalski" <KowalskiL@MAIL.MONTCLAIR.EDU>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2000 1:39 PM
Subject: Re: Inductance


> > ....., but from my point of
> > view "emf" (electromotive force) is about as confusing a term as has
> > ever been foisted upon us.  After our students are finally comfortable
> > with the word "force" (and may even have stopped confusing it with
> > pressure), I do _not_ want them to get the idea that voltage is a force!
>
> I started translating EMF as the "electro-motive factor" and using the
> DOP as an abbreviation for the difference of potential. In simple d.c.
> circuits EMF is used to describe sources (where energy is received
> by charges) and DOP is used to describe the outside path (where energy
> is dissipated). I see how "charging a battery" can create a dilemma but
> that is not what we are discussing in the chapter on d.c. circuits.
> Ludwik Kowalski