Expirement 3

How Does the Science Experiment

Work
Rubbing the needle with the magnet caused the needle to become temporarily
magnetized. Once magnetized, the needle had a north and south pole (like all
magnets). Magnets interact with one another by either repelling or attracting
each other. Once the needle was magnetized, it interacted with Earth’s
magnetic field.

When the paper was placed in the water, it floated on the surface of the water
and was able to move freely. At that point, the magnetized needle caused the
paper to spin around until the north and south poles of the needle were in line
with Earth’s magnetic field – Earth’s north and south poles. The same end of
your needle should always point the same direction, despite your best efforts
to make it not!

Magnet, candle and needles (Expirement 2)

Sewing needles, such as the one in this activity, are typically made from a type of steel. In a
ferromagnetic substance like this, every atom acts as a tiny magnet. Usually, these
magnets are pointed in different directions. But a powerful magnet nearby can make all the
atoms line up in the same direction, turning all those mini-magnets into one big one.
There are other ways to reorder atoms in iron or steel. When you heat the needle above
about 770 °C, the atoms in the metal change into a different pattern. In this new pattern, the
iron atoms can’t line up to form a magnet, and it’s no longer attracted to magnetic fields.
When it cools down below 770 °C, the pattern changes back and it becomes ferromagnetic
again.

Expirement 1

When using water and oil, the paper clips moved through the liquid to the
magnet very quickly. This is because water and oil have a low viscosity and
provide very little resistance to the paperclips moving through them. When
using liquid dish soap, the paper clips moved very slowly toward the magnet.
This is because the corn syrup has a high viscosity and provides a lot of
resistance to the paper clips moving through it.

The magnet still attracts the paperclips in each of the scenarios, but the
experiment shows how the viscosity of a liquid impacts how fast (or slow) the
paperclips move toward the magnet.