The Horseshoe Magnet: Experiments for School and At Home
Horseshoe magnets are predestined for physics. With their help, the basic laws of magnetism can be illustrated in a playful way.
Horseshoe magnet: 1st experiment: Making magnetic field lines visible
In addition to the horseshoe magnet, for this experiment you will need fine iron filings, such as those produced when filing metal objects. The experiment works as follows:
Step 1: Distribute iron filings
Spread the shavings on a smooth surface, e.g., a coated tabletop or a sheet of paper.
Step 2: Bring the horseshoe magnet into contact with the filings
If you then place a horseshoe magnet in the center of the shavings, the iron particles align themselves along the magnetic field lines due to the polarity of their atoms. In this way, the course of the field lines can be made visible and the extent of the magnetic field can be measured.
Large horseshoe magnets, whose poles are color-coded, are particularly suitable for such an experiment.
The Horseshoe Magnet Experiments for School and At Home
Horseshoe magnet: 2nd experiment: Magnetize objects
Nails, screws, paperclips, and other objects can be turned into magnets themselves with the help of a horseshoe magnet (in the shape of a bridge). The principle behind it is also based on the magnetic alignment of the contained iron components. To do this, simply follow the steps below:
Step 1: Strike the horseshoe evenly along metal objects
For example, strike a horseshoe magnet from head to tip of a nail repeatedly, regularly aligning the poles of its atoms in one direction. As a result, a magnetic north and south pole are formed on the nail. You can easily attract smaller and lighter metal objects such as a paper clip with this newly created magnet. However, if you drop the nail on the ground, the alignment of the iron components will become disordered again, so that the magnetic force of the object disappears.
Step 2: Demonstrate the creation of new magnets with their own north and south poles by cutting them up
Magnetized pieces of wire can also be used to simulate what happens when a magnet breaks: Cut the magnetized wire in half – between the north and south poles of the magnet, so to speak – and two new magnets are created, each with their own poles. There is no single pole magnet in the world.
Horseshoe magnet: 3rd experiment: Build a compass
Children who are enthusiastic about outdoor activities and playful survival training love this experiment. Proceed as follows:
Step 1: Have supplies ready
You will need a plastic bowl filled with water, a cork, a needle, and a horseshoe magnet.
Step 2: Magnetize the needle
Swipe the north pole of the horseshoe magnet from the eye of the needle to the tip at least twenty times. It is important to pull the magnet away from the needle once you have reached the tip and to put it back on again at the top end.
In this way, the elementary particles of the needle metal align themselves regularly.
Step 3: Fix the needle on the cork disk and place it on the water surface
Fixed on a disk of the cork, put the needle on the water surface. Due to the earth’s magnetic field, it automatically aligns itself in a north-south direction.
But be careful:Place the horseshoe magnet used in construction out of reach of the swimming compass so that its own magnetic field does not affect the needle.
What are magnetic field lines?
The direction in which the forces of a magnetic field (Lorentz force) run is illustrated by the field lines on schematic drawings that many people are familiar with from physics lessons. In the direction of their arrows, they symbolize where the north pole of an imaginary iron particle would move along the magnet.
What characterizes the magnetic field of a horseshoe magnet?
Compared to the magnetic field of a bar magnet, the field lines in the vicinity of a horseshoe magnet (due to its bridge shape) draw a much more complex picture. On the one hand, they move from the inside of the North Pole directly to the opposite South Pole and generate such a homogeneous magnetic field that no other shaped magnet has. On the other hand, from the outside of the North Pole, the field lines run in arcs around the horseshoe towards the outside of the South Pole. They never overlap. Stronger areas of the magnetic field are indicated in the illustration by a higher density of field lines. This also applies to bridge-shaped magnets. Do you need corresponding strong horseshoe magnets? You can find suitable specimens in our school magnets category!
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