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Index"/></a><br/> <br/> </div> </div> </td> <td valign="top"> <div id="contentframe"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="590" align="left"> <tr> <td> <div class="contentsectionframe"> <div class="contentsection"> <div class="contentsectiontitle"> <p class="sectiontitle"><a class="sectiontitlelink" href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/">Education Home</a> > <a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/electricitymagnetism.html" class="sectiontitlelink">Mag Lab U</a> > <a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/java/index.html" class="sectiontitlelink">Interactive Tutorials</a></p> </div> <div class="line"> </div> <div class="contentsectionbodyframe"> <div class="contentsectionbodyborder"> <div class="contentsectionbody"> <p><img class="arrowcontentspace" src="/web/20090709060923im_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/includes/index/layout/images/arrow.gif" alt="Arrow"/><strong class="title">Ørsted's Compass</strong></p> <p>In <a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/timeline/1820-1829.html">1820</a>, a Dane by the name of <a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/pioneers/oersted.html">Hans Christian Ørsted</a> discovered the relationship between electricity and magnetism in a very simple experiment that is shown in the below tutorial. One evening, as Ørsted was setting up materials for a lecture, he brought a compass close to a live electrical wire, and observed that the needle on the compass jumped and pointed to the wire. More experimentation showed that a circular magnetic field surrounded a <a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/java/magwire/index.html">current-carrying wire</a>. Ørsted had proved that electricity and magnetism were connected and the study of <strong>electromagnetism</strong> was born.</p> <br/> <center> <applet codebase="/web/20090709060923oe_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/java/oersted/classes/" code="oersted.class" width="375" height="236"> <param name="splash" value="molecular"> <center> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td width="40" height="30" valign="top" align="right"><img src="/web/20090709060923im_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/includes/tutorials/images/java/javacup.gif" width="30" height="30" border="0"></td> <td width="370" height="30" align="center" valign="middle"><font face="arial, helvetica, geneva" color="#21457B" style="font-size:16px; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><b>Interactive Java Tutorial</b></font></td> <td width="40" height="30" valign="top" align="left"><img src="/web/20090709060923im_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/includes/tutorials/images/java/whitepixel.gif" width="30" height="30"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="450" colspan="3" background="/web/20090709060923im_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/includes/tutorials/images/java/includebar.gif"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="450" background="/web/20090709060923im_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/includes/tutorials/images/java/spacer.gif"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="9"><img src="/web/20090709060923im_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/includes/tutorials/images/java/tlcurve.gif" width="9" height="9"></td> <td valign="top" width="430" background="/web/20090709060923im_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/includes/tutorials/images/java/topside.gif"><img src="/web/20090709060923im_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/includes/tutorials/images/java/topside.gif" width="430" height="9"></td> <td align="left" valign="top" width="11"><img src="/web/20090709060923im_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/includes/tutorials/images/java/trcurve.gif" width="11" height="9"></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="9"><img src="/web/20090709060923im_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/includes/tutorials/images/java/spacer.gif" width="9" height="100%"></td> <td bgcolor="#A5BADE" width="430" align="left" valign="top"> <center> <font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica, geneva" style="font-size:14px; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><b>ATTENTION</b></font> </center> <font size="-2" face="arial, helvetica, geneva" color="#21457B" style="font-size:12px; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"> <b>Our servers have detected that your web browser does not have the Java Virtual Machine installed or it is not functioning properly. Please install this software in order to view our interactive Java tutorials. You may download the necessary software by clicking on the "Get It Now" button below. <br> <br> <center> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090709060923/http://www.java.com/"><img src="/web/20090709060923im_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/includes/tutorials/images/getjavabutton.gif" width="88" height="31" border="0"></a> </center> </b>  </font><br> </td> <td align="right" valign="top" width="11"><img src="/web/20090709060923im_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/includes/tutorials/images/java/pixelblank.gif" width="11" height="100%"></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="9"><img src="/web/20090709060923im_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/includes/tutorials/images/java/blcurve.gif" width="9" height="13"></td> <td valign="top" width="430"><img src="/web/20090709060923im_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/includes/tutorials/images/java/bottomside.gif" width="430" height="13"></td> <td align="left" valign="top" width="11"><img src="/web/20090709060923im_/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/includes/tutorials/images/java/brcurve.gif" width="11" height="13"></td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> </table> </center> </applet> </center> <br/> <br/> <p>The equipment in the tutorial models Ørsted's 1820 apparatus. The battery is a <a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/java/voltaicpile1/index.html">voltaic pile</a> constructed of copper and zinc plates in a dilute acid solution. A copper wire is held in place by wooden clamps. Because the battery is not connected, the <strong>compass needle</strong> points north, attracted solely by the Earth's magnetic field. </p> <p>Click the <strong>Turn On</strong> button to connect the battery and create an <strong>electric current</strong> in the wire, which travels from the <strong>positive</strong> to the <strong>negative</strong> terminals. When the current flows through the wire, the compass needle aligns itself with the magnetic field created by the <strong>electrons</strong> traveling in the current, rather than with the Earth抯 magnetic field. Because the magnetic field travels around the wire in a circle (see our <a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/java/magwire/index.html">Magnetic Field of a Wire</a> tutorial), the compass will point in different directions depending on where it抯 placed. If you hit the <strong>Flip Battery</strong> button to reverse the direction of the current in this tutorial, the magnetic field around the wire will reverse direction, too, as will the compass needle.</p> <h1>Related Electricity & Magnetism Pages</h1> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/museum/voltaicpile.html" class="bluelink">Museum: Voltaic Pile</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/pioneers/oersted.html" class="bluelink">Pioneers: Hans Christian Ørsted</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/timeline/1820-1829.html" class="bluelink">Timeline: 1820 - 1829</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/java/galvanometer/index.html" class="bluelink">Tutorial: Galvanometer</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/java/magwire/index.html" class="bluelink">Tutorial: Magnetic Field Around a Wire</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/java/voltaicpile1/index.html" class="bluelink">Tutorial: Voltaic Pile</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </div> </div> </div> <br/> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="770"> <tr> <td valign="top"> <div> <p class="footerleft"><a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/about/comments.html" class="footerlink">Comments & Questions</a> | <a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/about/privacy.html" class="footerlink">Privacy Policy</a> | <a href="/web/20090709060923/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/about/copyright.html" class="footerlink">Copyright</a><br/> © 1995 - 2009 National High Magnetic Field Laboratory<br/> 1800 E. 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