Identifying Fake Magnets
Fake Magnets
Identifying Fake Magnets
Overview
Suppose someone gave you two magnets that look identical. One of them is a magnet and one of them is not. How would you tell one from the other? You can only touch them together but to nothing else. Is there any way to tell the real one from the fake one?
Materials
• 2 identical magnets (one is a magnet the other one is not)
Procedure
1. Take the north pole of one magnet and put it against the south pole of the second magnet. What happens?
2. Put the south pole of one magnet against the south pole of the second magnet and see what happens.
3. Now put the south pole of one magnet against the middle of the second magnet.
Observations
When you put the north pole of one magnet against the south pole of the second magnet they do stick very weakly.
When you put the south poles of both magnets together they should repel each other but they don’t. They still stick instead.
When you put the south pole of the real magnet against the middle of the fake magnet it still sticks.
Explanation
The real magnet can attract the fake magnet at any given position the same way, while the fake magnet does not have this capability with the real magnet. This is how you can tell which one is real and which one is the fake one.