Can an insulated wire be used to make a electromagnet? Will there be any difference in strength of the magnet if I use an uninsulated wire instead?
By uninsulated wire I mean this:
Electronic – Making a electromagnet
electromagnetelectromagnetism
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It is insulated. Have you ever noticed that sometimes solenoids are made from copper wire that seems distinctly non copper coloured?
This is called enamelled copper wire, and it available in a whole range of colours.
The insulation is just a very thin coating of polyurethane, polyamide or polyester. It shouldn't be confused with vitreous enamel, which is glass. The good thing about it is that you can easily remove the insulation by rubbing hot solder on the wire.
In my experience (using magnets and designing metal detection equipment), 3 inches is a very long way for coils that might only have a diameter of about 1 inch.
At 3 inches, if you used two similar magnets can you detect the repelling force (or attracting force)? If not then you cannot expect an electromagnet to produce anything like the same magnetic field so it won't work at that distance.
Best Answer
Well.. you COULD use uninsulated wire but then you might as well just use a solid copper rod or tube and you would require unreasonably low voltages and unreasonably high currents to get the same power/field strength since you would basically be trying to make a magnet out of just a straight, single solid strand of wire or maybe just one turn of wire. All current flow does produce a magnetic field after all, but it's impractical.
Not all insulation is a rubbery or plastic material. The magnet wire which is typically used in things like transformer, motor, and electromagnet coils is insulated with a thin, hard laquer or enamel. It's made to be very thin so you can squeeze as many turns as possible into the same volume.