"Magnets... How do they work?" (Science Tools Continued)

After working with eyedroppers, the next science tool on the list was a balance.  We were getting into the good stuff!  We started out our conversation with the idea of a seesaw.  Most of us have had experiences using a seesaw.  To get us thinking about weight and what it means to be balanced I posed the question, "Would you want to ride a seesaw with an elephant?"

"Yeah!"
"Only if there were more animals."
"I could sit on boxes."
"No.  He might squish me."
"He would probably break it."
"No because it wouldn't work."

I then challenged the children to make their own seesaws using materials found in the classroom.  How would we know if it worked?  By using small manipulatives (dominoes in this case) we could see how stable or unstable our seesaws were by how balanced they needed to be.  The seesaws that teetered over really needed to be balanced, and that was the challenge.













These seesaws were pretty stable.  They rarely teetered over and you could stack quite a bit on them.  

These were a lot more unstable and took more time to balance.  This was a true seesaw.  A real seesaw wobbles easily.  These showed when one side weighed more than the other without a problem.

From there we moved on to using a real balance.  It had a lot more bells and whistles than the see saws that we made, but the concept of comparing weight came to us a lot easier this way.  With a balance we were able to use weights and compare on a more precise level to answer questions like, "Which weighs more?" and "How many kangaroos does it weigh?" 

After introducing the balance I brought out magnets.  We all know magnets and use them for many things in the classroom, but now was our chance to look at them like the scientists we are.  I brought out a simple magnet and asked the children to tell me what they knew and what they would like to know.

"Magnets stick to metal."
"Magnets are on our trains."
"They stick to metal things."
"They work like magic."
"I just want to know, like, how they do what they do."

A few terms were needed to explore our tools- magnetic, attract, repel, and magnetic field.  We started out by testing if a material was magnetic or not.  Do you know what we figured out?  Not all metal is magnetic!  This was surprising. The classroom keys and a nickel would not be attracted by the magnet no matter how much we tried.  

The next day we did a few experiments to help understand our vocabulary.  When two magnets come together, sometimes they attract and sometimes they repel.  We had to push so hard to get them to stay together, but as soon as we let go, the magnets almost shot away from each other!  Was this magic?  No!  It is the magnetic field.  It is the invisible force of the magnet.  We could almost measure how big the field was by seeing how close things would get before they would attract or repel.

Here is a drawing of what it looks like when you levitate a magnet trapped to the ground with a string.  It is floating in the air!

Here is a drawing of what it looks like when the paperclip is dangling from a string.  When you inch the magnet closer and closer, the magnetic field is reached and the paperclip glides right over!

Above you will see the experiments we did involving a paperclip, string, and a magnet.  They were very exciting to see because we really got the chance to almost measure where the magnetic field was.  Did you know stronger magnets have an even bigger magnetic field?  

These experiments are something that can be done easily at home.  Take a moment to have your children model what they have learned in the classroom by experimenting together!