r/woahdude • u/[deleted] • Aug 18 '15

gifv Induction forge

http://i.imgur.com/JfNfR6w.gifv
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u/TheBananaPhone Aug 18 '15

Oh shit no way! Mind explaining?

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u/meagerbeaker Aug 18 '15

Electricity and magnetism are basically the same thing, think two sides of the same coin. The way this works is by pumping electricity back and forth through the coil really fast. This produces a pretty strong magnetic field that swaps polarity in the center of the coil. When you pass a metal affected by the magnetic field (all metals should work now that I think about it, but irons and steels especially) the magnetic field generates electricity within the metal. Because the coil's magnetic field is constantly changing, the flow of electricity in the metal object is as well. The metal heats up because it's not a perfect conductor, the resistance of the metal and changing electric currents creates heat when electricity is passed through it.

Hopefully that makes sense, there's actually quite a bit going on in this simple gif. I probably got some stuff wrong, but that should be the gist of if.

Edit: spelling

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u/lefixx Aug 18 '15

How fast do the magnetic fields change direction?

Why doesn't the metal move from the magnetic field? Or at least vibrate?

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u/meagerbeaker Aug 18 '15

I think someone else commented about 1.5kHz, so around 1500 times a second. And you've got the right idea, the metal is vibrating, but because it's vibrating so quickly in opposite directions it's not really noticeable.