eddy current

American  

noun

1. an electric current in a conducting material that results from induction by a moving or varying magnetic field.

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eddy current British  

noun

1. Also called: Foucault current.  an electric current induced in a massive conductor, such as the core of an electromagnet, transformer, etc, by an alternating magnetic field

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Etymology

Origin of eddy current

1590–1600, for an earlier sense

Example Sentences

Large magnets pull out metals; aluminum is itself magnetized using what’s known as an eddy current to draw it out.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 5, 2024

When the metal plate is completely inside the field, there is no eddy current if the field is uniform, since the flux remains constant in this region.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

If motional emf can cause a current loop in the conductor, we refer to that current as an eddy current.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

But when the plate leaves the field on the right, flux decreases, causing an eddy current in the clockwise direction that, again, experiences a force to the left, further slowing the motion.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

It was about four fathoms long, and thirty-two meshes in depth; these nets are much more convenient to set in the eddy current than our long ones.

From Voyages from Montreal Through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in 1789 and 1793 Vol. I by Mackenzie, Alexander