ELECTROMAGNET BUILD INSTRUCTIONS
Review ALL instructions before building
4 SECTIONS
> SAFETY FIRST
> PARTS NEEDED
> BUILDING IT
> TESTING IT
Any project can be completed with these 3 T’s:
- TOOLS (Use the right tool to do the project)
- TECHNIQUE (Proper technique is important)
- TENACITY (Always complete the project)
IMPORTANT SAFETY TIP:
Always wear safety glasses when building your electromagnet and when working on any electric project.
You only have two eyes, always protect them!
IN CASE YOU MISSED THE STEM INFO:
1. Safety First
Learn to work safely when building your electromagnet and other electrical projects.
2. Parts needed
Learn the parts you will need to build and test your electromagnet and where to find them.
3. building it
Learn how to build a simple electromagnet from a UCLA Electrical Engineering graduate.
3. Testing it
Learn how to test your electromagnet and learn why testing your completed projects is a big deal.
1. safety first
Always think safety first when working on any project.
Always wear eye protection when building your electromagnet. You never know when an accident will happen. For example, when twisting your magnet wire around the iron core, you don’t want the loose end of it coming around and hitting you in the eye. Ouch!
Be aware, this is not a toy you’re building. It uses a battery, and a battery contains “electrical power” that can be dangerous.
NOTE: Never connect the magnet wires (or other wire) permanently to the battery terminals. This is dangerous.
Use caution when testing your electromagnet. Use your finger tips to hold the ends of the magnet wire to the battery terminals briefly for testing. When you use a fresh new battery, you will probable feel the heat being generated at your fingertips within a few seconds. Let go of the battery and let the magnet wire ends fall away from the battery terminals to avoid burning your fingers.
This information will be repeated in the ‘Testing It’ section.
2. parts needed
* You will only need ONE (1) part from each of the four (4) sections below.
2. One WIRE
3. One IRON CORE
4. One TEST PART
Where can you find some of these parts? Think creatively and use your imagination to solve this challenge.
You can ask a parent, guardian, or teacher for the parts you will need to build your electromagnet. Be thankful.
Visit an electronics store and kindly ask “What’s the chance?”, of getting donated parts for your build. Ask nicely.
Electricians have these parts and would probably like to donate to help with your “electric” educational project.
1. Battery
You will need a battery, as this is the power source (‘ELECTRIC CHARGE’) for the electromagnet.
Any AAA, AA, C or D battery will work. Use a new battery for best results. However, be careful!
CAUTION: WHEN USING A NEW BATTERY, YOUR FINGER TIPS WILL FEEL A LOT OF HEAT WHERE YOU PINCH THE WIRE TO BATTERY TERMINALS.
THEREFORE, BE PREPARED TO ONLY HOLD THE WIRE ENDS TO THE BATTERY TERMINALS BRIEFLY AT FIRST.
These batteries are rated at 1.5 Volts (1.5V) and have a positive (+) and a negative (-) side, or terminal.
To “turn on” your electromagnet, the battery must make contact with the wire, making a “closed circuit”. Details about this follow below in step 4, How To Test.
As a good reminder, here are two important nature phenomena (physics) about ‘ELECTRIC CHARGE’:
Remember, ‘ELECTRIC CHARGE’ moving in a wire creates a ‘MAGNETIC FIELD’ around the wire.
And, it works the other way around, meaning…
A ‘MAGNETIC FIELD’ moving near a wire creates a flow of ‘ELECTRIC CHARGE’ in the wire.
Another name for this flowing ‘ELECTRIC CHARGE’ is called ‘ELECTRICITY’.
2. WIRE (CONDUCTOR)
A metal wire is a type of ‘CONDUCTOR’, and can be made from metals like Copper or Aluminum.
You will need a piece of insulated Connecting Wire or Magnet Wire; these wires “conduct” electricity.
The conducting wire(s) may be either solid (one wire) or stranded (many wires). The colored wires in the picture on the right are stranded. They may also be solid.
Magnet Wire is solid, as shown in the pictured on the right (size: 24 MAG). It has an insulative reddish varnish that must be removed from the ends, prior to testing.
Two items to consider: WIRE SIZE and WIRE LENGTH.
The WIRE SIZE should be in the range of 18 to 24 American Wire Gauge (AWG). As the number gets smaller, the wire gets thicker (18 is thicker than 24).
The WIRE LENGTH should be between 1 to 3 feet long, at minimum; it’s ok to use a little more. Actually, it will make your electromagnet even stronger.
Generally, your electromagnet will be stronger if you use more wrappings and a thicker wire.
In summary, either “connect wire” or “magnet wire” is a type of “conductor wire”.
Here are pictures of different types of wire cutters.
3. Iron Core
The IRON CORE is the metal part you will wrap your conducting wire around to create your electromagnet.
Wrapping your conducting wire around an IRON CORE increases the strength of the electromagnet.
As shown in the pictures, various types of items can be used as your IRON CORE.
Strictly speaking, your IRON CORE needs to be made of a material that can be magnetized.
Materials that can be magnetized, which are also the ones that are strongly attracted to a magnet, are called ferromagnetic.
The specific IRON CORE we use for our in-person build workshops is a “Machine Screw, Round Head Combo, #8-32 x 1-1/2 inch, made by Everbilt.”
A benefit of using a machine screw with magnet wire (24 AWG), is that the wire stays in place and will not slip off the screw, because the wire “sits” in the threads.
For other electric projects, such as the “electric telegraph”, a common 3 inch construction nail is ideal, as they are both cheap and readily available.
In the telegraph project, the wire stays in place because the top of the nail holds it at the top, and the bottom of the nail is inserted into a foam chassis, thus keeping the wire from coming off the nail and unwinding.
You can experiment with various IRON CORES to see if using one or another makes a noticeable difference.
More wire wraps around the ‘IRON CORE’ = a stronger ‘MAGNETIC FIELD’!
4. Test Parts
You will need at minimum a small metal piece to test your electromagnet.
Paperclips may be one of the most readily available test parts.
However, with a little effort, you can find different items that can work in place of a paperclip.
You can use small washers or nuts.
Look around and find small metal parts that can be magnetized.
We call these parts we use for testing, the “Test Parts”.
3. buildING IT
Note: Below are both exact build instructions using the parts we provide students during our in-person workshops and general guidelines that work when using similar parts. The video is below.
1. Measure and cut off a length of Magnet Wire (24 AWG), that is 2 feet 8 inches long (32 inches in total).
Remember, you may use either Magnet Wire or Connect Wire to build your electromagnet.
Basically, make your wire length between 1 to 3 feet long, as a minimum; it’s ok to use a little more.
Generally speaking, your electromagnet will be stronger if you use more wrappings and/or a thicker wire.
2. Prepare the ends of the conductor wire to make electrical contact with the battery terminals possible.
You will need to remove about 1/2 inch (~0.5 inch) of the insulative material from the ends of the conductor wire to make an electrical connection possible.
This will allow the battery’s energy, i.e., it’s “electric charge” or “electricity”, to move through the conductor wire, which will then create the magnetic field, that is, magnetism.
Magnet wire has a reddish colored outer varnish that will need to be removed. This is its insulative/protective coating.
Remove about 1/2 inch (~0.5 inch) from each end of the wire using one of the two methods described below.
You can either rub off the protective coating using a small piece of sandpaper (about 120 grit sandpaper works well).
You can also use a razor blade, where you will drag the blade across the wire, scrapping of the varnish off. Hold the wire so the end points away from you, and begin to “drag” the razor blade away from you, against the wire. Angle the blade so when you scrape it along the wire, you are “dragging” it across the wire. Do not angle the blade into the wire (this is not dragging), as that will cut the wire.
Connect wire has a nylon insulative material that will need to be removed from the ends to expose the copper wire underneath, this is the area of the wire that will make contact with the battery terminals.
Remove about 1/2 inch (~0.5 inch) of the insulative material from each end of the wire using one of the two methods described below.
You can use a wire stripper tool. Or, if you are very careful, you can use a razor blade.
When using a razor blade, gentle push the blade of the razor in the protective coating and rotate the blade around the wire forward, almost full circle as possible and then backward, full circle as possible. Then pull on the cut piece, to expose the wire underneath.
3. Wrapping the connecting wire around the Iron Core.
SEE BUILD VIDEO BELOW.
Start by leaving 5 inches of the conducting wire “free”; this is the wire length that will not be wrapped around the Iron Core, and will be used to connect to the battery.
Then, begin to wrap the wire around the iron core from one side to the other. As you wrap the wire around the iron core, keep the wraps next to each. Note: They do not need to be “perfectly wrapped” for your electromagnet to work.
After wrapping, you should also have 5 inches remaining “free” on the other end. See picture below.
The specific IRON CORE we use for our in-person build workshops is a “Machine Screw, Round Head Combo, #8-32 x 1-1/2 inch, made by Everbilt.”
A benefit of using a machine screw with magnet wire (24 AWG), is that the wire stays in place and does not slip off the screw, because it “sits” in the threads.
If you use a common 3 inch construction nail, on average, you’ll get about 15 wraps per inch.
When you are finished wrapping your Iron Core with your conductor wire, you are ready to move on to testing it.
You will need to remove about 1/2 inch of the insulative material from the ends of the conductor wire to make an electrical connection possible.
This will allow the battery’s energy, i.e., it’s “electric charge” or “electricity”, to move through the conductor wire, which will then create the magnetic field, or magnetism.
Magnet wire has a reddish colored outer varnish (insulative/protective coating) that will need to be removed.
Remove about 1/2 inch (~0.5 inch) from each end of the wire.
You can either rubbed off (with a small piece of sandpaper, about 120 grit sandpaper works well), or using a razor blade, where you will drag the blade across the wire, scrapping of the varnish off. Do not angle the blade into the dragging, as that will cut the wire. Angle the blade so when you move it against the wire, you are “dragging” it across the wire.
plastic insulation from the ends of the connect wire, using one of the techniques described.
You can use a wire stripper or a razor blade, if you are very careful!
Expose the copper wire underneath, this is the area that will make contact with the battery.
4. testING IT
Time to "power up" your electromagnet to test it!
Make contact between the wire ends and the battery terminals. You will use your fingertips to hold one end of the wire to the positive (+) terminal of the battery and the other end of the wire to the negative (-) side of the battery.
You now now completed a circuit, proceed immediately to pick up some paper clips!
Touch the iron core to a paper clip or other small metal test part.
You should be able to lift the paper clip with your working electromagnet!
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE CREATED AN INVISIBLE FORCE! IT’S CALLED: MAGNETISM.
Try to lift up as much as you can with your electromagnet.
You can experiment and check for performance differences by testing with various wire sizes and lengths.
GOOD JOB...YOU ARE ALOMST DONE
2 More steps to complete the challenge:
POST IT: Now, on to the POST IT page. When we say POST IT, we want you to send us an email of your build.
SHARE IT: After posting your build pic to us, we would like you to share your story with others via social media.
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