I guess there are at least two ways to understand an inductor:
1. if you disconnect it from power, you'll get a huge voltage spike
2. V = -L (d/dt) I
1. seems like a practical explanation. 2. seems like a theoretical explanation. But an expert can play with both, and (under the assumption of first-order linear ODEs for this primitive components, which is an assumption you can only make after the fact, so... bare with me for the following BS statement), they are both equivalent. (That is, I can't think of another relationship that achieves 1.
Your idea of a "trick" has mostly to do with 1, I think. And it's an essential part of understanding an inductor, and it's also most likely how humans discovered inductors.
Sure but neither of those explanations immediately scream you can use this to filter high frequency noise or you can use it to cause a phase shift in an AC signal (like in a mechanical electrical meter or a start winding in a single phase induction motor).
Maybe 'trick' is the wrong way of looking at it, I guess the real issue is that from seeing a single component in a circuit diagram you can't know which of the effects of a component is being utilised.
The way I learned how an inductor works: it doesn't like changing current. When you turn the power on, it sluggishly and reluctantly lets the current flow. Then if you try to stop the current flow, it uses the energy it grabbed earlier to crank up the voltage in an attempt to keep the current flowing.
1. if you disconnect it from power, you'll get a huge voltage spike 2. V = -L (d/dt) I
1. seems like a practical explanation. 2. seems like a theoretical explanation. But an expert can play with both, and (under the assumption of first-order linear ODEs for this primitive components, which is an assumption you can only make after the fact, so... bare with me for the following BS statement), they are both equivalent. (That is, I can't think of another relationship that achieves 1.
Your idea of a "trick" has mostly to do with 1, I think. And it's an essential part of understanding an inductor, and it's also most likely how humans discovered inductors.