hey guys, i know this thread is like heaps old but i've got a really good dot point summary of what back emf is. If you don't need it anymore, just ignore this...
Ok, so for the dot point,
* Explain that, in electric motors, back emf opposes the supply emf
An electric motor has an applied voltage, causing a coil to spin in a magnetic field (motor effect). But as soon as it starts to spin, the coil is in fact also acting like a generator and will induce its own efm (known as 'back emf'). From Lenz's Law, this 'back emf' will oppose the motion inducing it, so the induced voltage will tend to negate or work against the applied voltage of the power supply.
When the motor is spinning quickly, (unloaded) the 'back emf' will be large, cancelling out much of the applied emf, leaving a small effective emf running the motor. This leads to a small current flowing. When the motor is under load, it spins slowly so there is only a small 'back emf'. This doesn't cancel out as much of the applied emf from the power supply, so the effective emf running the motor is higher and therefore, so is the current.
And for this dot point;
*Account for Lenz's Law in terms of conservation of energy and relate it to the production of a "back emf" in motor
Lenz's Law states, the direction of the induced voltage will be such as to produce a magnetic affect that opposes the change in flux (or the motion inducing it)
Hence, if the induced emf was in the same direction as the supplied emf, the resulting induced current could sustain the torque, enabling perpetual motion. ie. for a small energy input to start the motor, it would continue to turn (do work), thus breaking the Law of Conservation of Energy, that energy output can never exceed energy input. So, via the Law of Conservation of Energy, the emf produced MUST oppose the supplied emf and this is known as back emf