Abstract

SOSA, M. et al. A tangent magnetometer to measure the earth magnetic field. Rev. mex. fis. [online]. 2003, vol.49, n.4, pp.379-383. ISSN 0035-001X.

A simple and low cost experiment is proposed for measuring the earth magnetic field. Results obtained with the system described here are compared to measurements performed using a commercial magnetometer. The value for the earth magnetic field north-south component, B_Z = 24.6 ± 0.3 µT, obtained with our system is in good agreement with measurements recorded by the commercial magnetometer, which vary around 30 ± 5 µT. This experiment is of easy implementation and great educational value in an undergraduate laboratory course of electricity and magnetism, because it provides an application of the fundamental physics to the measurement of an ubiquous and important phenomenon.

Keywords : Magnetometer; earth magnetic field.

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