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I'm trying to investigate how the frequency of the alternating current in the solenoid affects the ring motion for a Thomson Jumping Ring apparatus. I have a variable frequency AC power source that outputs a peak voltage of 20V, which is not enough to power my experiment, especially since the power source has an internal resistance of 50 ohms, which means that the current passing through the solenoid won't be very high. Is there a way I could increase the output current?

I was also considering using a higher voltage AC power source, like a VARIAC or just line voltage, but I haven't found a way to alter the frequency for these. I tried to get a variable frequency drive but there were none available with a single-phase output.

Any ideas or advice would be very much appreciated.

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How about feeding your AC signal to an audio amplifier and then a step up transformer (that could be a step down transformer run backward).

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  • $\begingroup$ this is an excellent suggestion, I have used it for experiments like this with perfect results. Drive the amp with a variable frequency sine wave generator and get the biggest audio power amp you can obtain, say about 100 watts. be sure the transformer can take the power, and monitor both the input and output of the transformer with two channels of an oscilloscope to be certain you are dealing with undistorted sine waves throughout. $\endgroup$
    – niels nielsen
    Commented Aug 29, 2020 at 16:45

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