Magnetic Screwdriver
Magnetic Screwdriver
Magnetic Screwdriver
Overview
Turn an ordinary screwdriver into a magnet.
Materials
• Ordinary screwdriver
• A magnet
• A compass
• A paperclip
Procedure
1. Take the screwdriver and put it near the compass. If the compass moves, then your screwdriver is magnetic already. Find one that is not magnetic yet.
2. Take the screwdriver and hit it with the magnet and just rub the magnet along its edge. Use the side of the magnet with the north pole.
3. Get the screwdriver close to a paperclip. What happens?
4. Now put the tip of the screwdriver close to the compass. And then put the base of the screwdriver, down by the handle, close to the compass. What happens?
5. Now take the screwdriver and hit it with the magnet again. This time turn your magnet over so that you rub it with the opposite pole than before (The south pole).
6. Put the tip of the screwdriver close to the compass again. Then put the base of the screwdriver close to the compass. What happens?
7. Take the screwdriver the third time and rub it along the middle of the magnet (right in between of the North Pole and the South Pole). Put the screwdriver close to the compass again and see what happens.
Observations
When you put the screwdriver near the compass and the compass moves, then your screwdriver is already magnetic.
The screwdriver picks up the paperclip.
When you put the tip of the screwdriver close to the compass it attracts the North arrow of the compass and the base attracts the South arrow.
After you rub the screwdriver with the opposite side of the magnet, the tip attracts the South and the bottom attracts the North arrow of the compass.
When you rub the screwdriver with the middle of the magnet nothing changes. It still has the same polarity as before.
Explanation
Screwdrivers are made out of a type of steel that contains chromium and vanadium. This material makes a very good magnet.
When you rub the screwdriver with a pole of a magnet, it takes on the magnetic field of that magnet. If you rubbed it with the North Pole of the magnet, you made the screwdriver attract the North arrow of the compass, and if you rubbed it with the South Pole, you made it attract the South arrow of the magnet. If you rub the screwdriver in the middle of the magnet nothing changes. If you rub it a little bit off the middle towards the north end of the magnet it weakly attracts the north arrow of the magnet. If you rub it a little bit off the middle towards the south it weakly attracts the south arrow of the magnet.
You can make it strong or weak depending on where you rub it. So, magnets have a strong force on both ends and virtually nothing in the middle.