Electromagnets in VHS and VCRs

If you were born following about 2008, you may not be aware of what a VHS  or a  VCR is. VHS stands for Video Home System, and VCR stands for Videocassette Recorder. These devices were used to allow consumers to have videos in their homes. The VHS and the VCR outsold to Betamax, and it became the dominant home video taping system in America in the early 1980s. VHS cassettes have tape that is wound around reels at each end of the VHS, and the VCR reads signals encoded in the magnetic tape. Inside the VHS there is a motor which is how the reels turn in order to record or play videos. However with the invention of DVDs in 1997, VHS and VCRs were deemed unnecessary and ultimately the production of VHS tapes ended in 2008.

Inside a VCR

To record on a VHS, there is oxide on the tapes inside the VHS. Also on the tape within the VHS, are magnetic particles in patterns. These patterns pass over an electromagnet in the VCR. The electromagnet is a wire full of iron which creates a magnetic field when recording. A magnetic flux occurs in which the oxide on the tape magnetizes. The magnetized tape then sends signals to the television which have been converted from magnetic particles into images and sounds.

Inside a VHS