The Factors That Affect the Strength of an Electromagnet

The Factors That Affect the Strength of an Electromagnet

Planning

What I am trying to find out?

My aim is to find out the factors that affect the strength of an

electromagnet.

What I am going to do?

Equipment list

q Power pack

q (Soft) Iron core

q Wire

q Paper clips

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Method

In my investigation I am going to see how many paper clips an

electromagnet can pick up, varying how many times a wire is wrapped

around an iron core.

1. I will connect the wire to the power pack and set the voltage to 8.

I will then switch the power on.

2. I will now attempt picking up paper clips using no turns in the

wire and will record the result.

3. I will repeat this procedure but increase the turns in steps of 5,

up to 40.

After carrying out a preliminary experiment the wire we were using was

only able to wrap around the iron core 40 times. We decided to go up

in steps of 5 so that the electromagnet was not too strong or too weak

to pick up the paper clips.

Safety Precautions

While doing this investigation we need to be aware of any safety

precautions. As we are working with electricity we must make sure the

voltage is not set too high as the wire may over heat and will melt on

to hands causing burns to the skin.

Prediction

I predict that the more coils wrapped around the iron core the

stronger the electromagnet will become resulting in more paper clips

being picked up. I know this because it says in "GCSE Success Double

Award Physics Higher" that to make the magnet field stronger we can

increase the current or make the wire into a coil. It also says that

if a solenoid is wrapped on to a core made from material such as iron,

the strength of its magnetic field increases.