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GCSE Combined Science · key term
A wire wound into a coil with many turns, which produces a magnetic field when it carries a current.
Used by AQA and Edexcel
Specification 6.7.2.1 · Paper 6
Revise: ElectromagnetismA solenoid is a wire wound into a coil with many turns. Each turn produces a magnetic field. Inside the coil, the fields from neighbouring turns act in the same direction and reinforce one another.
Paper 5, Paper 6
A long coil of insulated wire that produces a magnetic field when it carries a current.
For a solenoid, field arrows point from north to south outside the coil and from south to north inside it.
Explain why a solenoid strengthens the field: the fields from neighbouring turns reinforce one another inside the coil.
Explain both parts of the solenoid pattern: the fields add inside and partly cancel outside. Say ‘almost uniform’ and ‘weaker outside’, not ‘perfectly uniform’ and ‘zero outside’.
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A solenoid is a long coil of insulated wire. Each loop is called a turn. Insulation prevents neighbouring turns from making electrical contact, so the current follows the wire around every turn.