After missing Tuesday due to yet another snow day, on Wednesday we moved forward with our conversations about electricity. Today I introduced to my students electromagnetism; we learned that there is a relationship between electricity and magnetism. By running an electrical current through a circuit you can actually create a small magnetic field. The picture above proves this point, as you can see the compasses that are aligned with the cooper wiring all point in the direction of the electrical current as oppose to pointing north.
After completing the first activity with circuits and compasses, we then moved on to solenoids and electromagnets. We learned that a solenoid is a coil of wires wrapped around a object. In addition, a solenoid can also serve as an electromagnet if the coil is wrapped around a ferromagnetic material. The picture above is of a electromagnetic solenoid that we created in class today. Tomorrow we will continue our conversations about electromagnetism and how we use this type of energy.

Mr. McClung