Save guides, add subjects and pick up where you left off with your BBC account. An electric current can be induced in in a coil of wire by moving a magnet in and out of the coil. AC generators are ...

When an electric current passes through a metal wire, a magnetic field forms around that wire (see diagram at right). Likewise, a wire passing through a magnetic field creates an electric current ...

A changing magnetic field induces a current in a conducting wire. Yes, that's cool - but it's also important. This physics principle behind many of the electric generators (but not all).