Hertz and Recieving Radio Waves

Question 1

what was the aim of this investigation?

Answer 1

To produce a radio frequency wave and recieve it on a radio

Question 2

how was this investigation performed?

Answer 2

the teacher operated an induction coil connected to a variable power source. connected to the induction coil were two nails seperated from one another via a spark gap

when the teacher turned on the power supply, an oscillating spark had been seen jumping from the spark gap on the induction coil. simulatenously, crackling had been observed on a nearby radio reciever

Question 3

what were the safety hazards involved in this experiment and their corresponding safety precuations to help minimise those?

Answer 3

• high voltage sparks can cause burns on the skin and pain—> teacher had performed the experiment infront of the class
• high voltage sparks emitted harmful x rays–> a 3m exclusion had been established between the apparatus and the rest of the class

Question 4

in the experiment, what five tests did we perform to anaylse the signal recieved and describe the observations obtained

Answer 4

• moved the radio further away from the induction coil. crackling became less prominent with increasing distance and hence more interference observed with smaller distance from reciever.
• moved the radio side to side infront of the induction coil. more interference present when the radio reciever was positioned directly infront of the induction coil than when off to the side orientation
• switching the radio from FM to AM in front of the induction coil. more interference had been observed when the radio was configured to AM
• changing the spark gap to make it larger or smaller. more interference observed when the spark gap reduced in size
• changing the orientation of the radio’s antenna to be facing or not facing the induction coil: more interference observed when the antenna of the radio had been facing the front of the induction coil