Sarah Ng

March 13, 2018

Physics/Engineering

Electromagnetic Experiment

Objective/Purpose:​ How do electrical currents influence magnetic fields?

- Does the length between the power source and the physical electromagnetic, make it’s

magnetic field larger?

Hypothesis: ​If a 32 gauge insulated copper wire that is coiled tightly around 119 times, without

overlapping, around a galvanized 3 inch nail, and the length of loose wire connecting the D

battery and the nail is decreased, then it’s electromagnetic field will widen.

Background Knowledge:

Electromagnet-​ A magnet created by linking a power source to a nail using a copper wire that is

also coiled around the nail. It is a magnet created using electricity, it works because the electrical

currents causes a magnetic field to form. You have to coil the wire to increase the current making

the field stronger and the battery is the power source of the electrical current. We use a nail or

types of metal as the cores for the electromagnets because they are easily and more efficiently

magnetized which is good for creating an electromagnet.

Material List:

➢ 32 gauge insulated copper wire

➢ 3 inch galvanized nail

➢ 1 D battery
 ➢ 4 paper clips

➢ 4 staples

➢ 1 ruler (cm)

➢ Wire cutters

➢ Sand paper

Procedure:

1. Measure out 30 cm of 32 gauge insulated copper wire

2. Leaving the 30 cm out but attached, coil more of the wire around the 3 inch galvanized

nail, the coils should tight, touching each other, but not overlapping.

3. After coiling, measure out 30 cm attached to the coils and cut the wire. You now should

have a 3 inch galvanized nail with 119 coils of 32 gauge insulated copper and two strands

of 30 cm pieces coming off from the coils.

4. Take off about an inch of insulation off the 30 cm strands at the ends using the sandpaper

5. Attach one end of a 30 cm strand on the positive end of the D battery.

6. Attach the other strand of 30 cm on the negative end of the same D battery, you should

now have an electromagnetic with the battery and nail 30 cm apart attached with a wire.

7. Put the 4 paper clips at the bottom of a ruler that starts measuring in centimeters at the

very edge, is also on the same plain and level as the paper clips, that it is perpendicular

off the surface it is placed one, and that 0 in the side touching the ground.
 8. Lower the electromagnetic against the ruler toward the paper clips, stop moving the

electromagnetic once it has picked up a paper clip so that it is touching the

electromagnetic.

9. Record the distance in centimeters using the ruler to measure.

10. Repeat steps 6 to 8 two more times

11. Replace the 4 paper clips with 4 staples

12. Repeat steps 6 to 8 three times, except staples instead of paper clips

13. Now cut off 5 cm from each 30 cm strand and reattach

14. Repeat steps 6 to 11 with your new electromagnetic

15. Repeat steps 12 to 13 until you only have a 5 cm strand coming off your coils

Data (Raw):

Data Chart Data Collected from Experiment

Length of the
strand of the
wire coming
off of the coils
(cm) 30 cm 25 cm 20 cm 15 cm 10 cm 5 cm

Trail 1
Paperclip 0 cm 0.3 cm 0.3 cm 0.5 cm 0.2 cm 1 cm
Trail 2
Paperclip 0.4 cm 0.2 cm 0.2 cm 0.4 cm 1 cm 0.5 cm
Trail 3
Paperclip 0.2 cm 0.3 cm 0.4 cm 0.4 cm 0.5 cm 0.5 cm
Trail 1 Staple 0.3 cm 0.5 cm 1 cm 0.5 cm 0.8 cm 0.5 cm
Trail 2 Staple 0.5 cm 1 cm 1 cm 1 cm 1 cm 1 cm
Trail 3 Staple 0.8 cm 1 cm 0.5 cm 1 cm 1 cm 1 cm
 The trails are measured in the distance from the electromagnetic from object being picked up

in centimeters. The numbers on the top row is the length of the loose wire that connects the

battery to the nail. We tested using two different objects, paper clips and staples, and they had

separate trails, and each got 3 trials for each length of wire and each object.

Discussion/Analysis:

Data Chart of the Averages of the Results

30 cm 25 cm 20 cm 15 cm 10 cm 5 cm
Average
Paperclip 0.2 cm 0.26 cm 0.3 cm 0.43 cm 0.56 cm 0.66 cm
Average
Staple 0.53 cm 0.83 cm 0.83 cm 0.83 cm 0.83 cm 0.83 cm

The unit for measuring distance was centimeters for all of the distance measured

variables To better understand the chart above, the unhighlighted numbers is the length of the

wire between the battery and the nail. The highlighted numbers below them is the distance the

nail was away from the object, which is listed on the left, for it to be affected by the

electromagnet’s field. As already shown above, all the recorded numbers are the averages of the

original data taken from the three trials that had been done during this experiment. These

averages are to help better understand the data that had been collected by simplifying it all to a

single number for each object and length. The chart above, for paperclips, shows that as the

distance between the battery and nail had decreased, that it was able to pick up the paperclip

from a further distance. The staples did not seem to have much of an effect, however it still did

between the 30 centimeters and 25 centimeters, which shows that the electromagnetic was able
to pick up the staple at a further distance at 25 centimeters. As a result, this shows that as the

distance between the magnetic and the object decreases, the magnetic field widen, allowing it to

lift up objects from a larger distance.

Graph of Averages

The unit to measure any variable related to distance is measured in centimeters. This is a

graphed version of the averages of the data we had taken. The red line represents the staples, and

the blue line represents the paperclips. The x-axis labels are the lengths of the wire connecting

the battery and the nail, and the y-axis is the distance from the nail to object for it to be lifted by

the electromagnet. Each labeled data point is the exact average of the three trails taken for that

data point. First I will be going over the red line and the secondly will explain the blue line.
 First of all as you can see in the graph above the staples flatlined for a while until the last

moment when it went down. To explain, I believe that the staples only needed a set amount of

force to lift the staple up or that there was human error with our own eyes. Perhaps that I had

lowered the electromagnet down to fast, or had not read the ruler correctly. Although the

differences between 30 centimeters and 25 centimeters, shows that when the distance between

the battery and the nail decrease, the electromagnetic is able to pick up the objects up at a further

distance.

However, the lengthening of the distance between the battery and the nail seemed to have

really affected the results for the paperclips. This might have been because of the difference in

sizes for masses of the paperclip compared to the staple. However, as the length of the wire had

increased, the distance the nail could pick up the object had decreased. This leads us to believe

that the magnetic field from the electromagnet had decreased with the lengthening of the wire,

and increased at the shortening of it.

Chart of Medians

30 cm 25 cm 20 cm 15 cm 10 cm 5 cm
Median Paper
Clip 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.5
Median
Staple 0.5 1 1 1 1 1

The unit is centimeters for any variable related to distance. Above is a chart of the

medians, the top row is the length of the piece of wire connecting the battery and the nail, and

the left column is the object being lifted up. The highlighted numbers is the medians of the
distance between the electromagnet and the object for it to be picked up by the magnet. This

analysis of data is to take out our highs and our lows so we could be left with just the medians of

the data.

Starting with the paper clips, as the length of the wire had decreased, the distance the

electromagnetic could pick up the paper clip had increased. This suggests that the magnetic field

of the electromagnet had widened or become larger. The staples distance increased with the first

to the second data point, however seemed to flat line after that. Though it still suggests that the

shortening of the wire increased the distance an object could have been picked up, the flat line

could have been caused by human error. Such as lowering the magnet too quickly or misjudging

the readings from the ruler.

As an conclusion for all this data, charts and graphs, it seems to have proven our

hypothesis true. Assuming that the further away an electromagnet can pick up an object means

that its field is larger. Since our data shows that it could pick the object up at a further distance,

which should mean that the field had widened. This experiment may have had a few human

errors and could have used more data points and trials. If this were to be done again, I believe

that having more trials would give a better results and prevent a flat lining as shown from the

staples’ data. Also lengthening the part of the wire to perhaps 50 centimeters would have given

as even better result of how the distance between the battery and nail would affect the magnetic

field of the electromagnet. This experiment also lead me to believe that the overall strength of

the electromagnet was also affected by the shortening of the wire, from simply messing around

with how many it could pick up.

Conclusion:
 The shorter the part of the wire connecting the power source and the magnetic core of an

electromagnet is, the wider the magnetic field. This was proven with an experiment, in which we

make an electromagnetic with the piece of wire connecting the power source and the magnetic

core have a length of 30 cm, then measured how far it could pick up paper clips and staples. We

then tested it for the same thing twice more, then proceeded to cut off 5 centimeters at each end,

and tested for the distance it took to pick of the objects three times. As shown in the data taken

above, the distance it took with a 30 centimeter length for paper clips was, on average, 0.2

centimeters, while it was 0.66 centimeters for a length of 5 centimeters. With staples on average,

the distance was 0.53 centimeters for the 30 centimeter length, and 0.83 centimeters for the 5

centimeter length. This shows that as the length of the wire decreased, the distance it took for the

electromagnet to pick of the object had increased. These results indicate that the shortening of

the wire had widened the magnetic field of the electromagnet. Since the data shows that the

decreasing of the wire length, corresponded with the increasing of the distance the magnet could

pick up an object; we concluded that the shortening of the wire widened the magnetic field of the

electromagnet.