Wesley Fink

March 13, 2018

Physics/Engineering

The Core Of The Issue

Purpose/Problem: The question we answered was how using a different core

for an electromagnet could affect its strength. Another thing that we were researching,

was what is the best core for an electromagnet. Firstly, what is an electromagnet? An

electromagnet is a kind of magnet in which the magnetic field comes from an electrical

current. It contains a core that becomes a magnet from the passage of electricity

coming from a source that is transported via a copper wire. These kinds of magnets are

used in motors and generators.

Hypothesis: We found this by testing various objects as the core, such as pens,

nails, batteries, screws, etc. Before we started testing, we had an idea if an object that

is wrapped by a 32 gauge insulated wire 50 times then if it was more metallic it would

better conductor and pick up more staples.

Procedure: To do the experiment you need the cores, which include a plastic

covered pen, a ballpoint pen, a nail, a magnet, a screw, a wood rod, a cardboard scrap,

and a battery. You also need the previously mentioned 32 gauge insulated copper wire,

another battery, and staples (any amount over 8). For the procedure, first you need to

choose a core to use. After choosing a core, as mentioned earlier, you need to take

your copper wire and wrap it around your core 50 times. Make sure you lay out your

staples on a smooth surface. You then want to take a piece of sandpaper and scrap of

the insulation of the ends that will touch the battery. Then, have the non-insulated ends

touch the positive and negative sides of the battery. Hover over the staples with your
electromagnet and pick up them up one at a time. Next record your data and repeat

your steps with each core.

Data/Observation: After doing this experiment, we recorded the data we found.

Below is a data table and a graph version of that data. We found that the only materials

that could be used as conductive material are those metallic, confirming our hypothesis.

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3

Plastic Pen 0 0 0
Ballpoint Pen 0 0 0
Nail 8 8 6
Magent 5 4 4
Screw 1 1 1
Wood Rod 0 0 0
Cardboard Strip 0 0 0
Battery 0 0 0
 Analysis: To make the data more understandable, we converted it from number

of staples to number of grams it can pick up. Since one staple weighs 0.0324 grams,

then at maximum the nail could pick up 0.2592 grams, the magnet 0.162 grams, the

screw 0.0324 grams, and everything else at 0 grams. The nail, magnet, and screw will

be focused on for now on since they are the only conductive cores. The median weight

picked up was 0.0567 grams but this doesn’t account for the outliers.

This data shows us that when creating an electromagnet it can be in your favor to

use metallic material for the core. As mentioned earlier our hypothesis was proven

correct, which isn’t too hard to predict. But one thing that is interesting is how weak

some of the materials were. Mainly how the screw did a lot worse than we expected.

The reason this happened and the nail did so much better since it has bits of copper in

it. Copper is a very conductive material, as why we used copper wire. The magnet also

did well since it was already a magnet in the first place. The screw was able to pick up

staples as it has some brass in it, which is conductive but not as much as copper. As

stated earlier the item with metal in them preformed the best. This confirms our

hypothesis. This is a fairly responsible conclusion, but is interesting how these turned

out to be the only materials that turned out conductive.

This experiment isn’t without its flaws. The first thing that could have influenced

the experiment was the the amount of times we wrapped the wire. We only wrapped the

wire around the core 50 times, where if we did it more times, it would have strengthen

the current. Another error that might have occured is the human error. Of course,

humans aren’t perfect so there are various things that could have gone wrong. For
instance we could have not 100% uninsulated the tips of the wire, not setup the

electromagnet correctly, etc.

To improve the lab for next time, there are two main things we would change.

Firstly, we would wrap the wire around the core 100 times instead of 50. Mainly what we

would change is what cores we test on. While our objective was to find how using

different cores affected the magnets and we did accomplish this, I feel the results we

got were unsatisfactory. I feel we wasted our time testing on cores that gave no

reaction. For next time, we would use cores that we already know have conductive

material and see how they reacted differently and which can pick up the most mass. I

would be most interested to pursue further testing.

Conclusion: During our testing, we found that nails work as a great and effective

core for an electromagnet. For this experiment, we wanted to test the effects of using

different cores for electromagnets and which core is the most effective. We tested many

cores that ranged from cardboard to pens to other magnets. But the one that performed

the best was the nail. The nail was able to pick up 0.2592 grams at maximum. This is

because the nail has bits of copper in it which is a very conductive material. Another

core that did well was the magnet, which at max picked up 0.162 grams of mass. This

we believe is because it was already a magnet in the first place, being enhanced by the

battery. Lastly was the screw, which managed to pick up 0.0324 grams. This is because

of the brass in the screw, which is also conductive. Everything else managed at 0 as

they have no conductive material.