Student Exploration: Magnetism

Name: Date: Student Exploration: Magnetism Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and prompts in the orange boxes. Vocabulary: attract, bar magnet, ferromagnetic, magnetize, north pole, repel, south pole Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.) 1.​ What happens when you place two magnets close together? They will attract to each other and will stick to each other until they are pulled away from each other. 2.​ What objects do magnets stick to? Make a list. They stick to anything ferromagnetic, like iron or nickel. 3.​ What do these objects have in common? They are ferromagnetic, and magnets will be able to stick to them, they are also a type of metal. Gizmo Warm-up: What is attracted to magnets? A bar magnet is a simple rectangular magnet. If you hang a bar magnet by a string, the north pole (N) of the magnet will tend to point north while the south pole (S) of the magnet points south. 1.​ Look at the materials at the bottom of the Gizmo. Which ones do you think will stick to a bar magnet? I think the nickel and iron metals will stick to the bar magnet. 2.​ Ferromagnetic materials are strongly attracted to magnets. Drag a bar magnet and the piece of nickel onto the scribbled line. Press Play ( ). A. Is nickel ferromagnetic? Yes, it is. B. How do you know? Because when I did the experiment, they were slowly meeting each other and after a few seconds, they stuck together. 3.​ Test copper, wood, glass, and iron. Which ones are ferromagnetic? Reproduction for educational use only. Public sharing or posting prohibited. © 2020 ExploreLearning™ All rights reserved Only iron is ferromagnetic, the others aren’t. Activity A: Attract or repel? Get the Gizmo ready: ●​ Check that the MAGNETIC FORCES tab is selected. ●​ Click Reset ( ). Question: How do magnets interact? 1.​ Observe: Drag two bar magnets onto the paper and press Play. Then click Reset. Change one of the magnets (either from N-S to S-N, or vice-versa). Click Play again. A.​ What happened the first time? The magnets got attracted to each other and stuck to each other. B.​ What happened the second time? The magnets moved away from each other and they didn’t stick to each other. 2.​ Form hypothesis: Magnets are either pulled together (attracted) or pushed apart (repelled). Based on what you have seen, when are magnets attracted and when are they repelled? When magnets attract to each other, they are in the same direction. (ex. One bar magnet has N on the left, S on the right, the other bar magnet is the same.) When magnets repel each other, they are not in the same direction. (ex. One bar magnet has S on the left and N on the right, the other bar is the opposite.) 3.​ Predict: Based on your hypothesis, which pairs of magnets will be attracted to each other? Which will be repelled? Record your predictions below. (Leave the result blank for now.) Left magnet Right magnet Prediction (Attract or repel?) Result (Attract or repel?) Attract Attracted Repel Repelled Attract Attracted Repel Repelled 4.​ Run Gizmo: Test your predictions using the Gizmo. Record your results in the table. Reproduction for educational use only. Public sharing or posting prohibited. © 2020 ExploreLearning™ All rights reserved ​​ 5.​ Draw conclusions: Fill in each blank below with the correct word. A.​ The south pole of a magnet is attracted to the north pole of another magnet. B.​ The south pole of a magnet is repelled by the south pole of another magnet. C.​ The north pole of a magnet and the north pole of another magnet will Activity B: Magnetic field lines repel each other. Get the Gizmo ready: ●​ Click Reset and drag all objects off the paper. ●​ Select the MAGNETIC FIELD LINES tab. Question: If you scatter iron filings (little slivers of iron) around a magnet, you will see a pattern of magnetic field lines. What do these lines show you? 1.​ Observe: Drag one magnet onto the paper. Click Sprinkle filings and then Tap table five or six times. Click the box, click Edit Sketch the pattern you see in the box: ✏️ What do you notice about the iron filings? The iron filings are going in a certain direction, it creates a pattern, similar to a black hole pattern. It looks like the magnet is sucking the iron filings in, like a black hole. They were attracted to the magnet. 2.​ Observe: Drag a second magnet next to the first. Click Sprinkle filings and then click Tap table several times. Click the box, click Edit Sketch what you see. ✏️ Will these magnets be attracted or repelled? The magnets didn’t move, but the filings still attracted to the magnets, but there are now 2 black-hole like patterns, they are smaller than if you had 1 magnet, but the filings were still attracted to the magnets, which created the unusual pattern. 3.​ Observe: Now switch one of the magnets. Click Sprinkle filings and then click Tap table several times. Click the box, click Edit Sketch what you see. ✏️ Will these magnets be attracted or repelled? Reproduction for educational use only. Public sharing or posting prohibited. © 2020 ExploreLearning™ All rights reserved ​​ The magnets still attracted the iron filings, the magnets didn’t do anything to each other, but the filings were attracted to the magnets and created the pattern. 4.​ Draw conclusions: Compare the magnetic field lines you have sketched. How can you use the field lines to tell if magnets will be attracted or repelled? I will be able to tell because when the magnets are attracted, the field lines will form a certain peculiar pattern, similar to a black hole. The magnets will suck in the filings, and form that pattern, and when they repel, the field lines will do the opposite and form away from the magnets, which will be the opposite of a black hole. 5.​ Extend your thinking: Observe the magnetic field lines produced by an N-S magnet and the mystery magnet. Will these magnets attract or repel each other? First, make a prediction below. Then, check your answer on the MAGNETIC FORCES tab. Prediction: I believe that they are going to repel each other. Activity C: Magnetic materials Actual result: I ended up being wrong, and it actually ended up attracting, the filings formed the same black hole pattern, which means it attracted. Get the Gizmo ready: ●​ Select the MAGNETIC FIELD LINES tab. ●​ Drag an S-N magnet and the copper bar onto the paper. Question: Why do magnets attract certain materials? 1.​ Observe: Click Sprinkle filings and then click Tap table several times. Look closely at the filings near the copper bar. Does copper have any effect on the filings? No, it doesn’t. Only the magnet has the peculiar black-hole pattern around it, the copper did not affect the filings in any way, the pattern did not occur for the copper. 2.​ Observe: Repeat the experiment with iron. What effect does iron have on the filings? The magnet seems to have most of the black-hole pattern around it, the iron may have a little bit of the pattern, but the pattern is not too noticeable within the iron and it is more noticeable around the magnet, so iron doesn’t have much of an effect on the filings. Reproduction for educational use only. Public sharing or posting prohibited. © 2020 ExploreLearning™ All rights reserved ​​ 3.​ Analyze: Which of these materials is ferromagnetic? The iron is ferromagnetic. 4.​ Draw conclusions: How can you tell if an object is ferromagnetic by looking at its field lines? Discuss your answer with your teacher and classmates. When an object is ferromagnetic, the field lines will create the peculiar black-hole pattern around it, the pattern will be noticeable around the ferromagnetic object. The pattern is similar to a black hole, if you are getting this pattern with the field lines, the object is ferromagnetic. 5.​ Apply: Select the MAGNETIC FORCES tab and experiment with the Gizmo. Try to answer the questions below. Share your findings with your classmates and teacher. A.​ Can a magnet ever repel a ferromagnetic material? No, a magnet will never repel ferromagnetic materials. B.​ In the Gizmo, does one ferromagnetic material attract another? No, it won’t. One ferromagnetic material needs to be magnetic, or else it won’t work. 6. Predict what will happen when using a magnet in space and write my name. I think what will happen is that the magnet will still be magnetic and attract ferromagnetic materials, even though there is barely any gravity in space, magnets will still work fine. They will still work perfectly. Reproduction for educational use only. Public sharing or posting prohibited. © 2020 ExploreLearning™ All rights reserved