I created a question you can see here on stack however I will also just post it below…
WHY is energy maximized in an air gap?
Suppose we have an air gap problem like in the picture above. Now the induced MMF will clearly move the object in the negative x direction. It will do this because energy is maximized. Due to coenergy also being maximized so is Inductance. This happens because relucantce is minimized. Im avoiding using equations here right now and I am trying to understand the mathematics I already know.
Now conceptually a system will always seek minimum energy for stability and the equilibrium points of even a simple system like this WILL occur at points of minimum energy.
However the air gap seems to defy stability. Its intrinsicly unstable because it if it were not for that block in the way the object would shoot off in the -x direction.
WHY does an air gap system seek to maximize its energy and inductance and minimize its reluctance? Whats the really electromagnetic phenomenon occuring here.
I have a thought we can maybe build on: My thought is that as the gap widens and the reluctance of the system decreases, the inductance increases and much like a two wires splitting this splitting will cause the EMF. Is a similar situation occuring here with the MMF? and Why?
No derivation has lead to a suitable explanation nor has any professor. The professors just say thats an interesting question and say they dont know. Keep in mind a couple of these guys are “experts” in the field of energy and electromagnetism and one has a PHD in air gaps and cant tell me.
This makes me think its a near field problem or concept yet to be fully understand so lets brain storm?
Alright all. Here was what I discovered after much research on my own. Feel free to differ. I look forward to other ideas. @anotherriddle perhaps youll engage the idea?
In my sleep deprived state I’d say you’re right on the money with page 4.
A word of caution: some of the rule of thumbs like “minimizing energy” often make matters very confusing when you don’t take the full context into account.
I would approach the whole thing slightly differently and use magnetic flux and approximate the moving part in the air gap with a magnetic dipol moment. The Force is the gradient of moment times magnetic field. Preferably I’d like to write that down though with as little assumptions as possible.
At the end of the day however both our approaches are correct do long as the conserve energy (even if its mechanical energy expressed in moments) and entropy (via conservation of total flux ending up being constant throughout the entirety of the system)…
I am also very sleep deprived so I may mispeak. lol
absolutely, it’s just the way I prefer to think about problems like this
It’s also really interesting how seemingly simple problems can often be a little tricky to solve conclusively. (Although magnetic fields unfortunately are not my strong suit.)
Yeah but it’s all interrelated. I feel nothing is my strong suit and all I am really doing is unraveling mysteries around us. Its all there. Nothing is a breakthrough invention wise. Everything is a breakthrough in our understanding of the universe
I showed the problem to a friend who hopefully will have some input. I’m not quite confident enough in my own assumptions on the problem and I don’t like to get things wrong which always happens when I rush it with too little free time right now.
