angela's Page

They can, but the stream analogy does break down somewhat. Usually when eddy currents form, the large scale current will circulate in the same manner of the eddy currents (bascially, they all add up). In these sorts of problems we usually don't have transverse currents, which would be the stream.

Eddy currents are essentially just manifestations of Lenz's law on a small scale. So they get generated by a changing magnetic field. Because the electrons are relatively free to move around, when a solid object passes through a magnetic field the motion of the electrons is affected. The electrons tend to circulate, generating currents around small loops within the material, much like when water hits a rock in a stream. I'm not sure if that's a clear explanation though....
The squirrel cage... It depends on the context. It can refer to a part of a type of induction motor; if you look at the wikipedia entry for Squirrel-cage rotor that might be the most helpful. Then you can ask me questions about that. Or it can refer to a hypothetical (and comical) method of power generation, though that usually uses hamsters and is typically reserved for jokes.

Hi Angela: Saw your question on Tutoring/Mentoring.
Lenz's law is basically a statement that nature tries to prevent changes in magnetic flux. Imagine a wire loop, which has some magnetic field going through it (say, towards you). If the magnetic field increases, this will increase the magnetic flux through the loop. The loop tries to prevent this by creating a current (clockwise in this scenario) which in turn creates a magnetic field opposing the direction of increase. The more gradual the change, the less nature worries about the change.
As to your question about eddy currents and the squirrel cage... Can you be a little more specific?

:) thats good!

I'm good! tired, but good.

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