Wire Wraps and Electromagnet Strength
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Does wrapping more wire around a steel bar make a stronger electromagnet? You wrap copper wire around three identical steel bars. One gets 50 wraps. Another gets 75. The third gets 100. You connect each bar to a 6-volt battery and dip it into iron filings for 15 seconds. Then you weigh the filings that stick. The 100-wrap bar picked up 18.15 grains. The 75-wrap bar picked up 15.55 grains. The 50-wrap bar picked up 9.9 grains. More wraps meant a stronger magnetic field every time.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that the steel bar with 100 wraps will pick up more iron filings than the 75 and the 75 will pick up more iron filings than the steel bar with 50.
Method & Materials
You will need to get metal, wire, and a transformer, wrap the wire tightly around the metal rod, attach the ends of the wire to the battery, stick the end of the metal rod into iron filings, bring the metal rod up slowly, put it above the grain scale, and find the mass of the iron filings.
You will need 3 metal bars, steel, 2 meters copper wire, 1 6-volt battery, 2 needle nose pliers, 1 small glass, 20 grams iron filings, and 1 grain scale.
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See what’s includedResults
The results indicate that the more wraps a rod has, the more iron filings it picked up. This suggests that the hypothesis should be accepted. It would be interesting to explore if this would still work the same way with heavier metals.
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting because it explores how the number of wire wraps around a steel bar affects the amount of iron filings an electromagnet can pick up.
Also Consider
Experiment variations to consider include using thicker wire and a stronger transformer, and lifting small metal objects heavier than the filings.
Full project details
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