How to build and electromagnet at home?
By: Paola Andrea Rincón
Physics Kit, is there for you to experiment at home, try thousand of different tricks and to use materials you daily live with. In this time you, the little scientists, can be able to discover an important area of physics: electromagnetism and in a funny and simple way that even the smallest ones at home can have fun looking at them. In fact, there are a lot of mysteries that we try to solve, and there’s nothing better than understanding the basics of this area with an innovative way!
Materials
We can break with the paradigm that scientific experiments are really expensive. Because that isn’t true. Physics Kit Webpage is always trying to use the cheaper materials that will provide good results too. In this case, you must find four basic things with the help of your parents. First of all is the battery that give us the electrical energy we need for our experiment. Additionally we need copper wire, but it must be insulated and must have the ends stripped. Wires will serve to conduct electricity. We need iron nail, the larger, the better it will be for the experiment. And finally we will use staples, or also called small paper clips so you can look how electromagnets work.
Procedure
You should be asking how we can make something that seem so difficult with these basic materials.. Well, as the materials, the steps are also really simple to follow. First of all is important that as you are working with electricity, you must be with your parent and have a lot of care. Secondly, with the end stripped wire you must wrap it all around the large iron nail. In third place, as the cable is large enough, you must take both ends and place them one in the positive, and the other in the negative pole of the battery. The important thing to remember is to always connect the wire in the same direction, if not the experiment could be destroyed. Furthermore, as you tight the wire really well, as soon as you place the clips, you must start seeing at electromagnetism at home!
Explanation
The goal of this experiment is that you question why does all of this happen, and what is really happening. In fact, when we talk about electromagnetism, it is a force that basically makes possible the interaction of electrical conductors and uncharged magnetic force fields. And also make possible the interaction with electrically charged particles. In the experiment we see it because there’s a source of electrons (the battery) and the wire makes the electrons flow. The circuit is complete once the electrons flow, if not It isn’t. But where’s the magnet we made? Those electrons are behaving like magnets because -while flowing- they are creating magnetic fields. As a result, turns the nail into the magnet, picking up the clips we placed.
In conclusion, Physics Kit showed you an easy how to explanation. There’s no excuse to don’t do it. Electromagnetism is an important subject that little scientist like you need to know!
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