Building an Electromagnet

* Please note it's important to have a grownup help you when working with electricity because it can be dangerous. My dad helped me stay safe with my project. *

The three main items you need to build an electromagnet are a metal rod, a coil of copper wire and a power supply.







The first thing you need to do is wrap the copper coil around the metal rod.






Next connect the ends of the copper wire to your power supply. I used alligator clip jumpers.





My dad helped me add a switch to the circuit to be able to turn the magnet on and off quickly because it heats up fast.





I set everything up. When the switch was in the off position the rod was not magnetized.





When I turned it on, the current running through the wire magnetized the rod and it was able to pick up the nails.




When I turned the power off again the nails fell down because the rod was not magnetized anymore.






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