Generate electricity with a bar magnet! Discover the physics behind the phenomena by exploring magnets and how you can use them to make a bulb light.

Students investigate motors and electromagnets as they construct their own simple electric motors using batteries, magnets, paper clips and wire.

This lesson introduces the MRI Safety Grand Challenge question. Students are asked to write journal responses to the question and brainstorm what information they will need to answer the question. The ideas are shared with the class and recorded. Students then watch a video interview with a real life researcher to gain a professional perspective on MRI safety and brainstorm any additional ideas. The associated activity provides students the opportunity to visualize magnetic fields.

Students use a simple set up consisting of a coil of wire and a magnet to visualize induced EMF. First, students move a coil of wire near a magnet and observe the voltage that results. They then experiment with moving the wire, magnet, and a second, current carrying coil. Students connect the coil to a circuit and the current from the induced EMF charges a conductor.

Students complete a series of six short investigations involving magnets to learn more about their properties. Students also discuss engineering uses for magnets and brainstorm examples of magnets in use in their everyday lives.

Students visualize the magnetic field of a strong permanent magnet using a compass. The lesson begins with an analogy to the effect of the Earth's magnetic field on a compass. Students see the connection that the compass simply responds to the Earth's magnetic field since it is the closest, strongest field, and thus the compass responds to the field of the permanent magnets, allowing them the ability to map the field of that magnet in the activity. This information will be important in designing a solution to the grand challenge in activity 4 of the unit.

This lesson introduces students to the effects of magnetic fields in matter addressing permanent magnets, diamagnetism, paramagnetism, ferromagnetism, and magnetization. First students must compare the magnetic field of a solenoid to the magnetic field of a permanent magnet. Students then learn the response of diamagnetic, paramagnetic, and ferromagnetic material to a magnetic field. Now aware of the mechanism causing a solid to respond to a field, students learn how to measure the response by looking at the net magnetic moment per unit volume of the material.

Students measure the relative intensity of a magnetic field as a function of distance. They place a permanent magnet selected distances from a compass, measure the deflection, and use the gathered data to compute the relative magnetic field strength. Based on their findings, students create mathematical models and use the models to calculate the field strength at the edge of the magnet. They use the periodic table to predict magnetism. Finally, students create posters to communicate the details their findings. This activity guides students to think more deeply about magnetism and the modeling of fields while practicing data collection and analysis. An equations handout and two grading rubrics are provided.

Students explore electromagnetism and engineering concepts using optimization techniques to design an efficient magnetic launcher. Groups start by algebraically solving the equations of motion for the velocity at the time when a projectile leaves a launcher. Then they test three different launchers, in which the number of coils used is different, measuring the range and comparing the three designs. Based on these observations, students record similarities and differences and hypothesize on the underling physics. They are introduced to Faraday's law and Lenz's law to explain the physics behind the launcher. Students brainstorm how these principals might be applied to real-world engineering problems.

This is great exploring properties of magnetism science lab for young scientists. It is meant to be an experiential precursor before covering topics of magnetism. It could easily be adapted for older children.

Students learn about magnets and how they are formed. They investigate the properties of magnets and how engineers use magnets in technology. Specifically, students learn about magnetic memory storage, which is the reading and writing of data information using magnets, such as in computer hard drives, zip disks and flash drives.

This lesson begins with a demonstration of the deflection of an electron beam. Students then review their knowledge of the cross product and the right hand rule with sample problems. After which, students study the magnetic force on a charged particle as compared to the electric force. The following lecture material covers the motion of a charged particle in a magnetic field with respect to the direction of the field. Finally, students apply these concepts to understand the magnetic force on a current carrying wire. Its associated activity allows students to further explore the force on a current carrying wire.

This article describes the work of Hubert Staudigel and Cathy Constable, researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography who study Mt. Erebus, Antarctica's most active volcano.

Students create and use their own simple compasses, which are each made from a bowl of water, strong magnet, stick pin and Styrofoam peanuts. They learn how compasses work and about cardinal directions. They come to understand that the Earth's magnetic field has both horizontal and vertical components.

How is EarthŐs magnetic field important to making our Planet habitable? Where does it come from, and how quickly does it change? Join Geophysicist Cathy Constable as she delves into these and other questions about one of EarthŐs most dynamic features, the magnetosphere. Learn how research at Scripps is contributing to our ever-growing understanding of EarthŐs magnetism. (58 minutes)

This course is an introduction to electromagnetism and electrostatics. Topics include: electric charge, Coulomb’s law, electric structure of matter, conductors and dielectrics, concepts of electrostatic field and potential, electrostatic energy, electric currents, magnetic fields, Ampere’s law, magnetic materials, time-varying fields, Faraday’s law of induction, basic electric circuits, electromagnetic waves, and Maxwell’s equations. The course has an experimental focus, and includes several experiments that are intended to illustrate the concepts being studied.
Acknowledgements
Prof. Roland wishes to acknowledge that the structure and content of this course owe much to the contributions of Prof. Ambrogio Fasoli.

Course 8.022 is one of several second-term freshman physics courses offered at MIT. It is geared towards students who are looking for a thorough and challenging introduction to electricity and magnetism. Topics covered include: Electric and magnetic field and potential; introduction to special relativity; Maxwell’s equations, in both differential and integral form; and properties of dielectrics and magnetic materials. In addition to the theoretical subject matter, several experiments in electricity and magnetism are performed by the students in the laboratory.
Acknowledgments
Prof. Sciolla would like to acknowledge the contributions of MIT Professors Scott Hughes and Peter Fisher to the development of this course. She would also like to acknowledge that these course materials include contributions from past instructors, textbooks, and other members of the MIT Physics Department affiliated with course 8.022. Since the following works have evolved over a period of many years, no single source can be attributed.

This video segment from Nature profiles a small business in which homing pigeons play a central role.

Is it a tumor? Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can tell. Your head is full of tiny radio transmitters (the nuclear spins of the hydrogen nuclei of your water molecules). In an MRI unit, these little radios can be made to broadcast their positions, giving a detailed picture of the inside of your head.

In this activity, students use an old fashion children's toy, a metal slinky, to mimic and understand the magnetic field generated in an MRI machine. The metal slinky mimics the magnetic field of a solenoid, which forms the basis for the magnet of the MRI machine. Students run current through the slinky and use computer and calculator software to explore the magnetic field created by the slinky.