How Does the Number of Coils On An Electromagnet Affect Its Strength?

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Planning

Aim

To find out how the number of coils on an electromagnet affects its strength.

Background Knowledge

An electromagnet is a temporary magnet; the magnetic field only exists when an electric current is flowing through it. A magnetic field can be produced if a wire is wrapped around an iron core and a current is passed through the wire. The strength of the electromagnet depends on how many coils you wrap round and how high the voltage is.

Variables

Amount Of Paper Clips Picked Up.

This is the dependent variable of my. I will count how many paper clips have been picked up so I can see the strength of my electromagnet I will keep the paper clips the same size to ensure a fair test

Coils

This is my independent variable. I will change this to investigate the effect it has on the strength of the electromagnet.

Current

This is a controlled variable in my experiment. I will keep the same current so that the experiment is fair.

Prediction

I predict that as the numbers of coils are increased the magnetic field will become stronger, so the more coils there are the more field lines there are which means it would be a stronger electromagnet. The electromagnet will become stronger if we add more coils because this is generating more field lines over a wider area compared to a straight piece of wire.

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Method 

  1. Connect everything together and put the voltage on the power pack to 4V
  2. Wrap the coil around the iron nail 10 times and turn the power supply on
  3. See how many paper clips it picks up then turn the power pack off  
  4. Count how many paperclips it has picked up and record in a table
  5. Do experiment several more times, each time winding the coil 5 more times

Equipment List

Iron Nail                        Coil Wire

Power pack                        Wires

Paper clips                        Crocodile Clips

Risk Assessment

To make sure that this was a ...

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