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Description

Experimenting with magnets

Resources

sufficient magnets for each child to have a go
chalk

Instructions

First we talked about safety and the risks of using magnets with strong magnetic fields.....

We talked about magnets and North (neg) and South (pos) magnetic fields around them.
We then went off into lodges and drew roads on the tables and floor with chalk. We used our magnets as pretend cars on the roads.
We ran two experiments -
(1) table: using one magnet on the top and one underneath to emphasise the magnetic pull of N-S magnetic fields pulling together
(2) floor: using one magnet to push (or repel) the other magnet along the floor, thus emphasising the impact of N-N or S-S magnetic fields
We then came together again as a colony and discussed (at length because they had so many questions!) what we had discovered.

The most asked question was how did they know if the N or S side of the magnet was facing us. We likened it to the earth's magnetic fields and said if you hang it up it will hang so that N is pulling towards the S magnetic field of earth and vice versa, which they were fascinated by!

Tags

• experiment badge
• Magnetism
• Magnets

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