Constructing and Confirming the Viability of Nested Helmholtz Coils as an Education Model for Clinical MRI Systems

Our goal was to construct a viable laboratory model utilizing oscillating compasses as a visual and manipulable analogue for magnetically resonant proton procession in a clinical magnetic resonance (MR) system for students without a strong background in nuclear physics. The constructed model -- which utilized concentric perpendicular helmholtz coils -- was tested for its ability to replicate the 3 central components in the clinical MR system: the main coils, the RF coils and the gradient coils. Experiments were conducted to demonstrate that each portion of the apparatus was successfully able to model its analogue in the clinical MR system, as well as visually demonstrate magnetic resonance and its localizability.