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At an airport, a person is made to walk ...

At an airport, a person is made to walk through the doorway of a metal detector, for security reasons. If she/he is carrying anything made of metal, the metal detector emits a sound. On what principle does this detector work?

Text Solution

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The metal detector works on the principle of resonance in ac circuits. When you walk through a metal detector, you are, in fact, walking through a coil of many turns. The coil is connected to a capacitor tuned so that the circuit is in resonance. When you walk through with metal in your pocket, the impedance of the circuit changes - resulting in significant change in current in the circuit. This change in current is detected and the electronic circuitry causes a sound to be emitted as an alarm.
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