Maddie Cinelli

3/13/18
STEM

Electromagnetic Experiment

Objective/Purpose​: Following the overall question of how do electrical currents influence

magnetic fields, we investigated how different numbers of copper coils influence the
force of the magnetic field in an electromagnet.

Scope/Background​: To make an electromagnet you wrap a wire around a ferromagnet

(iron/similar material). A current from a battery runs through a wire. This creates a
magnetic field. The coil concentrates the field and directs it all in the same direction.
This magnetic field is what interacts with the objects around them. You can adjust the
electromagnet to make the magnetic field stronger or weaker.

Hypothesis​: If 32 gauge copper wire is wrapped around a galvanized 3 inch steel nail
50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 times, then the number of paper clips that it can pick up will
increase each time.

Materials​:
● 32 gauge insulated copper wire
● 3 in steel galvanized nail
● C battery
● Small paper clips

Procedure​:
1. Get your 3 inch galvanized steel nail and your 32 gauge insulated copper wire.
2. Use sandpaper to take the insulation of the ends of the wire
3. Wrap the wire around the nail 250 times. Keep the coils in around a 2cm area,
don’t space them out.
4. Hold one end of the wire to the positive side of the battery and hold the other end
to the negative side.
5. Make a pile of small paper clips.
6. Using the nail, make contact with the paperclips to and try and get as many as
possible to attach.
7. Count the individual paper clips to see the amount picked up by the
electromagnet.
8. Do this 6 times, and keep track of each trial.
 9. Do one more trial, but this time attach each paperclip by hand. Try and optimize
your use of the limited space on the nail to connect as many as possible.
10. Uncoil the wire 50 times.
11. Repeat steps 2 through 10 until you’ve unwrapped all the coils.
SAFETY WARNING: Make sure you disconnect the wires frequently, or they can
heat up, or the battery can short out.

Data​:
This table shows how many paperclips were picked up each trial by electromagnets with
different amounts of coils.

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 Trial 6 Interference

50 Coils 2 2 2 2 1 1 14

100 Coils 8 8 5 8 8 6 15

150 Coils 9 4 6 2 7 5 15

200 Coils 9 12 8 9 8 9 22

250 Coils 9 11 5 8 8 6 16

Data Analysis​:
Our hypothesis was partly correct. 200 coils was far more powerful than 50. Less coils
means that the force is less concentrated, and less powerful. However, when we got up to 250
coils the electromagnet started to get weaker. This is because longer length of wire has too
much resistance for the current to be at maximum power.
This graph shows that the line with 200 coils was never below another line, and was highest
most of the time.

This graph shows that 200 coils on average picked up the most paper clips. It also shows a dip
at 150 coils. Theoretically, the line should continue to rise until it peaks at 200. This is probably
because of human error, or the way the way the paper clips were positioned on the nail
prevented it from picking up anymore.

One problem with our experiment was that we would run out of room for paperclips on the nail.
We couldn't see the electromagnets maximum power. We decided to do an experiment with
human interference and place each paper clip onto the nail. This way we could control where
each paperclip was and optimize the space on the nail. In this graph there is an obvious peak at
200 coils.

When we conducted the experiment we started with 50 coils and increased the amount
each time. This meant that we had to uncoil and recoil the coils each time. We improved this in
our new procedure. It would be much more time efficient to start at 250 and just have to uncoil
50 each time, and not recoil.
After doing this lab, there is another potential experiment to be done. With different wire
the results could be very different. Wire a lower gauge would have less resistance, so you could
have more coils before it would run out of power. However, it would most likely have the same
result as this lab, and the resistance would eventually become too much.

CLEAR Paragraph​:
In a simple electromagnet, 200 coils of insulated 32 gauge copper wire is most effective.
We tested how many paperclips an electromagnet could pick up with different amounts coils
around it. We conducted 6 trials for each amount of coils. 200 coils was by far the most
powerful. On average, the 200 coil electromagnet picked up 9.2 paperclips, where as the 50 coil
electromagnet only picked up 1.7 on average. The 250 coil one had an average of 7.8, so it’s
clear the more coils doesn’t necessarily mean more strength. We did trials where we placed the
paperclips on the nail to get a more accurate determination of its strength. During this trial the
200 coil one picked up 22 paperclips, the 50 coil picked up 14, and the 250 coil picked up 16.
Theoretically more coils will give you a more powerful electromagnet. Coils concentrate the
energy, so more coils would focus it more. However, since we used a thin wire, it had a lot of
resistance. When the wire got too long, there would be too much resistance, so you wouldn’t be
getting your maximum power. You had to find the spot that balanced the length of the wire and
the amount of coils. If you used a thicker wire you would have less resistance and be able to
add more coils, but it would short circuit easier. In an electromagnet, 200 coils of wire is the
most effective because it has the best balance of wire length to number of coils.