Time: 15-20 Minutes
Materials:
- Small iron nail
- Insulating wire- ends must have exposed metal (have a grownup help you!)
- Double A Battery
- Paper clips or other metal objects
Instructions Step by Step:
- Wrap the wire around the nail in one direction, make sure the wire is tightly coiled.
- If you coil the wire in different directions, the electromagnetic force will cancel out, and there will be little to none force of the magnet.
- Attach one end of the insulated wire to the positive terminal of the battery and the other to the negative terminal of the battery.
- Check your circuit: One end of the insulating wire is on the positive terminal. The insulating wire is wrapped around the nail tightly with some of the exposed metal touching each end of the nail. The other is on the negative terminal. with the excess attached to the battery.
- Spread paper clips on the table.
- Touch your nail to the paper clips. While electricity flows through your nail, it will act like a magnet. The battery will attract the paper clips to the nail.
- When the electricity stops flowing through the nail, then the nail will stop acting as a magnet.
When electricity is passed through the coiled wire, a magnetic field is present, and you are able to pick up other magnetic objects, such as paper clips! Some important things to keep in mind: the more coils your wire has, the better your magnet will work! Because more current is being generated, the more electricity is being passed, and a stronger force will be present! Be careful holding the battery, as it might get hot, as well as the insulating wire.
Here is a video we shot while doing this experiment.
