Have fun picking up metal objects with your own electromagnet
Suitable For
Grade 7
Difficulty
3
Time Required
<2 Days
Supervision
Advised
What’s it about?
In this science experiment you will be learning more about the relationship between electrical current and magnetism by making your own electro-magnet. You will be amazed with how many everyday devices use electromagnets to function, for example: radios, vacuum cleaners, fans, doorbells, cars, loudspeakers, televisions and many more. You can make a simple electromagnet with only a battery, some copper wire and a steel bolt:
Topics covered
Magnetism, Electromagnet
What will I need?
- 9-VOLT BATTERY
- COPPER WIRE
- BOLT
- SWITCH
- PAPER CLIPS
Procedure (Method)
In this science experiment you will be learning more about the relationship between electrical current and magnetism by making your own electro-magnet. You will be amazed with how many everyday devices use electromagnets to function, for example: radios, vacuum cleaners, fans, doorbells, cars, loudspeakers, televisions and many more. You can make a simple electromagnet with only a battery, some copper wire and a steel bolt:
- Wind some copper wire around a large steel bolt many times. The more wire is wound up on the bolt, the stronger the electromagnet will be. Use some sticky tape to keep it in place if necessary.
- Connect the two loose ends of the wire to the terminals of a battery trough a simple switch. You can buy a simple switch from any hardware or hobby store or you can make your own switch with a small piece of wood and a piece of thin copper plate as per the drawing above.
- Now, switch your electromagnet on and bring the bolt near some small metal objects like paper clips or drawing pins and see them jumping to the magnet.
- Switch the electromagnet off, and the objects will fall off.
How does it work?
The above experiment works because when electric current flows through an object like a copper wire, it creates a magnetic field around the object. If a wire carrying an electric current is formed into a series of loops, the magnetic field can be concentrated within the loops. The magnetic field can be strengthened even more by wrapping the wire around a core.
Normally, the atoms in something like a piece of iron point in random directions and the individual magnetic fields tend to cancel each other out. However, the magnetic field produced by the wire wrapped around the core, can force some of the atoms within the core to point in one direction. All of their little magnetic fields add together, creating a stronger magnetic field. As the current flowing around the core increases, the number of aligned atoms increases and the magnetic field becomes stronger.
Like the sound of it?
Why not check out the full worksheet in one of our popular e-books?
This particular science project can be found in any of the following Experiland e-books:
Experiland e-books contain detailed steps, including illustrations, to complete the science projects from start to finish.
