Date of Award

1999

Document Type

Restricted Thesis

Terms of Use

© 1999 Walter J. Luh. All rights reserved. Access to this work is restricted to users within the Swarthmore College network and may only be used for non-commercial, educational, and research purposes. Sharing with users outside of the Swarthmore College network is expressly prohibited. For all other uses, including reproduction and distribution, please contact the copyright holder.

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Physics & Astronomy Department

First Advisor

Michael R. Brown

Abstract

Magnetic field measurements both inside and outside a 0.15 m diameter sphere of flowing liquid sodium are performed. Experiments have been conducted in both smooth (laminar flow) and corrugated (turbulent flow) Pyrex spheres. In both spheres, a teflon stirrer generates an assymetrical flow. A magnetic Reynold's number of around 5 is achieved for the system. Water experiments are conducted as an additional control parameter. A precision vector magnetometer, used to measure externally the effect of rotating sodium on a static magnetic field (10 Gauss), detected disturbances of a few percent (0.2-0.3 Gauss) to the applied field. A lock-in amplifier and boxcar averager are used to detect internal effects. Preliminary results indicate evidence of both toroidal and poloidal convection of [he magnetic field (internally and externally); total magnetic flux remains approximately fixed. These results are consistent with basic theoretical predictions and simple models of the experiment.

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