Michael Faraday drew some examples of iron filings interacting with bar magnets that described his work on magnetic lines of force. He had determined that the north pole of a bar magnet would attract to the south pole of another & vice versa. The magnetic lines of force in this attraction could be demonstrated with iron filings. Faraday's experiment involved paper & melted wax but you can see similar results with this pair of bar magnets, iron filings & Petri dish.
This set up will allow you to see how simple, inexpensive bar magnets and iron filings can illustrate & teach some basic properties of magnetism.
P/N | Description | QTY |
---|---|---|
22700C | Petri dish, 90x15mm high, plastic, sterile, Each for Kit Use | 10 |
33476-2 | Iron filings, 2g in plastic bag | 10 |
33544 | Bar magnet, ferrite, 75x18x6.5mm, red/blue: N/S | 20 |
67287C | Bond, Minit, green, 210mm | 10 |
67335C | Atom, Minit, Metal, octahedral, grey | 40 |
Note (1): Ferrite bars are fragile/brittle. Do not drop on hard floors.
Note (2): Ferrite bars are relatively weak & will not magnetize nails or pins. Stronger magnets such as Nd rare earth magnets or Alnico are best for this application.
Very pleased with the product. The magnets are good sized and have a good field to them. They seem sturdy and not easy to break. Haven't set up the viewing trays yet, but will be using them soon. Excited to have something other than a paper plate for field views.
Thanks for the feedback. We did the paper clip pickup test as outlined in Magnet Experiments for Kids after seeing an Amazon review where their ferrite bar magnets could barely lift a single paper clip. We then found they were just strong enough to demonstrate magnetic fields with iron filings.