The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of different
temperatures on the strength of electromagnets.
I became interested in this idea when I was wondering how a doorbell
worked. Someone told me that there were little electromagnets in
each doorbell. I wanted to figure out if doorbells worked better
in colder temperatures or warmer temperatures
The information gained from this experiment could benefit people who
have businesses containing electromagnets so they know what weather or
temperature electromagnets work better in.
My hypothesis was the warmer the electromagnet was, the stronger it
would be.
I based my hypothesis on the fact that the colder things are the less
energy the molecules have and the warmer the molecules are the more
energy they have.
The constants in this study were:
∑ The materials used to build the electromagnets
∑ Brand of the batteries
∑ Same volt batteries
∑ Age of Batteries
∑ Items picked up (staples)
The manipulated variable was the temperature of the electromagnet.
The responding variable was how much mass the electromagnet could pick
up.
To measure the responding variable I determined the mass it could lift
by counting how many large staples the electromagnet could pick up.
| QUANTITY |
ITEM DESCRIPTION |
1
|
9 volt D cell battery
|
1
|
12 cm iron nail |
1
|
Pair of latex gloves |
| 1 |
Petri dish |
4 ft
|
22 gauge magnetic copper
wire |
16 oz
|
Dry ice |
500 ml
|
Boiled water |
| 1 |
Stove |
| 1 |
Box of staples |
1
|
Pair of wire strippers |
1. Make sure you have all your materials
2. Build electromagnet
a. Use a wire stripper to remove a few centimeters of insulation
from each end of the wire
b. Wrap the wire around the nail tightly 60 times
c. Make sure there’s enough wire left at the ends to
attach to the power supply
e. Make sure you wrap the wire around the nail in one
direction because the direction of the magnetic current depends on the
electric current
f. Attach one end of the wire to the positive
terminal of the battery and the other end of the wire to the negative
terminal of the battery and see if it picks up any metal object so you
can determine if your electromagnet works
3. Place the electromagnet at room temperature without the battery
connected to it. That means only the wire and the nail sit at
room temperature when the magnet is all put together. Do the same with
all the other temperatures.
a. When at room temperature for five minutes record how many staples
the electromagnet picks up. That determines the strength of the
electromagnet.
b. Do this three more times and find the average number of staples the
electromagnet picked up.
4. Boil 10ml of water using the stove or any
other way to boil water.
5. Place the electromagnet in the boiling water.
c. Take out the electromagnet and immediately conduct test. Then record
how many staples the electromagnet picks up.
d. Turn off stove.
6. Place the electromagnet at room
temperature for ten minutes to make sure that the electromagnet is back
to its original room temperature
7. Place electromagnet in 16 ounces dry
ice.
b. Take out the electromagnet and record how many staples or the
electromagnet picked up.
C. Clean up mess
The original purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of
different temperatures on the strength of electromagnets.
The results of the experiment were, that the warmer the electromagnet
was the stronger it became. When at room temperature it picked up
an average of 98 staples. Immediately after it was in boiled
water it picked up an average of 128 staples. When frozen in dry
ice it only picked up an average of 32 staples.
See
my table and graph
My hypothesis was the warmer the electromagnet was the stronger it will
be.
The results indicate that this hypothesis should be accepted because
after it was put into boiled water it picked up 127 staples. When it
was put in dry ice it only picked up 30 staples.
Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder if I would have
used longer wire wrapped around a longer nail if maybe it would have
been stronger because there are more molecules going through the nail
and the wire.
If I were to conduct this project again I would have used more
temperatures variations. Maybe if I conducted more trials the results
would have been more reliable.
RESEARCH
REPORT
Electromagnet
The definition of an electromagnet is a magnet that consists of a core,
often made of soft iron that is temporarily magnetized by an electric
current in a coil that surrounds it. It is just simply a coil of
wire
wrapped around an iron core. Electromagnets are used in many
different
things. They drive electric door bells, buzzers, and
relays.
Electromagnets produce magnetic fields needed to make electric motors
and generators work. Powerful industrial electromagnets lift
heavy
pieces of scrap iron. Specially designed electromagnets create
very
strong magnetic fields that guide atomic particles along desired paths
in particle accelerators. In 1825, William Sturgeon showed
an iron
core strengthens a coil’s magnetic field.
Electricity
Electricity is a fundamental form of kinetic or potential energy
created by the free or controlled movement of charged particles such as
electrons, positrons and ions. All matter is made up of atoms.
Atoms
are made up of smaller particles. The three main particles making
up
an atom are the proton, neutron, and electron. Electrons spin
around
the center, or nucleus, of atoms. The nucleus is made up of
neutrons
and protons. Each atom has a specific number of protons,
electrons,
and neurons. No matter how many particles an atom has, the number
of
electrons usually needs to be the same as the number of protons.
If
the numbers are the same, the atom is called balanced. For
example, if
an atom has six protons it should also have six electrons. Some
kinds
of atoms have loosely attached electrons. An atom that loses
electrons
has more protons that electrons and is positively charged. An
atom
that gains electrons has more negative particles and is negatively
charged. A “charged” atom is called an “ion”.
Magnet
A magnet is an object that can push or pick up
materials made of
iron, steel, or nickel. A magnet is made up of the same
materials.
Objects that are attracted by magnets have similar properties.
Every
magnet has two places
where its strength is concentrated. Magnets that are free to turn
at
will come to rest with their poles aligned in a north south
direction.
A magnet can be made from a steel object by striking it with a
magnet.
Once magnetized a piece of steel can remain magnetized indefinitely.
All magnets have both North and South seeking poles.
Summary
Magnets are important in every day life. Magnets actually provide
jobs
for people who make magnets or people who work with magnets. If
there
weren’t electricity there wouldn’t be electromagnets.
Electromagnets
are a big part of the world and they also provide many uses. If
there
weren’t any electromagnets we wouldn’t have any doorbells.
Temperature
A definition of temperature is “A measure of the average translational
kinetic energy associated with the disordered microscope motion of
atoms and molecules.” Temperature is sometimes called thermodynamic
temperature. Temperature is commonly measured in Celsius, Kelvin,
or
Fahrenheit, which is most commonly used in the United
States.
Room Temperature
Room temperature is considered to be about 22 degrees Celsius or 72
degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature while wearing the normal
amount of clothing enough heat is able to radiate away from our bodies
where skin is exposed. If the room air were any warmer this
radiation
would not be enough to keep us at a comfortable temperature. The
opposite would be true if we were wearing little clothing or if we were
naked. With too much skin exposed our bodies would radiate
too much
heat and we would feel cold. We would feel completely comfortable
when
naked only if the room temperature was close to body temperature, 37
degrees Celsius.
Boiling
Boiling is the rapid vaporization of liquid, which occurs when liquid
is heated to a temperature that its vapor pressure is above that of the
surroundings. Boiling occurs in three forms, which are nucleate,
transition, and film boiling. Nucleate boiling is the most common
type
of boiling. It is characterized by bubbles, which rise from discrete
points on a surface, whose temperature is only a little bit above the
liquid’s saturation temperature. When the surface temperature
reaches
a maximum value, vapor begins to form faster than liquid can reach the
surface. The heated surface suddenly becomes covered with a vapor
layer.
Dry Ice
Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide. It refers to the fact that this
substance turns to gas without becoming liquid first. Dry ice is used
to refrigerate industrial food, medicine, and other materials that
would be damaged by ordinary ice. A block of dry ice has a
surface
temperature of –109.3 degrees Fahrenheit. As dry ice “melts” it
turns
directly into carbon dioxide gas rather than a liquid. This is
called
sublimation. Dry ice is great for refrigeration. If you
want to send
something across the country you can pack it in dry ice. It will
still
be frozen when it reaches its destination and there will be no messy
liquid left over like you would have with normal ice.
Summary
There are lots of different kinds of
temperatures. Temperature is
very important. Dry ice keeps things cold. Boiling cooks
certain
foods that we eat. And room temperature ‘s what many different
things
are before cooking or freezing them.
|
Gardner, Robert Science Projects
About Temperature and Heat New Jersey: Enslow
Publishers inc., 1994. p. 15-17
Ovelette, Robert J. “Dry Ice” World Book
Encyclopedia, 1998.
Parker, Steve Electricity. United
States: DK Publishing, 1992. p. 1-5
Plumb, Harmon H. “Temperature”
World Book Encyclopedia , 1998
Vahala, George “Electromagnet”
World Book Encyclopedia, 1988
|
I would like to thank the following people for helping make my project
possible:
- My parents for always being there for me and for buying me
all the materials
- My grandparents for also providing me with materials for my
project
- Mr. Newkirk for correcting my papers all the time.
- Mrs. Helms for helping me in the computer lab when I needed
it.
Top of page
Menu of 2004-2005 Science Projects
Back to the Selah
Homepage
|
