Adventist Adventurer Awards and Answers/Magnet Fun

What is a magnet made of?
A magnet is made of magnetite, a natural magnetic material that will create a magnetic field. A magnetic field is the force surrounding a magnet that draws objects to the magnet. You can feel this force when using a magnet.

Read the Greek story/legend of how the first magnet was found and named.
Many year ago there was a shepherd named Magnes. Each day he kept watch over his flocks. One cold, blustery day one of Magnes’ lambs was missing from it mothers’ side. Neither Magnes nor the mother could locate the little lamb. He looked behind rocks, in the thicket, near the stream, behind the bushes, and soon he realized it as really lost. He didn’t believe a wild animal had stolen it or eaten it. He was sure he could find it, if only he looked in all the right places. He stood on a large rock so he could look upon the landscape of the pasture in hopes of finding “whitey,” the lost little lamb. As Magnes stood on a rock his sandals stuck to the rock where the nails in his sandals were located. He had never noticed that strange power before. Over a period of days and weeks, he brought other metal objects to the “magic rock” and found that iron, regardless of the size, would stick to the “magic rock.” He took some of the stone to his village and children, moms and dads played with it. It became know as “Magnes’ stone.” Today it bears part of his name in honor of his discovery – Magnet. We call his “magic stone” a lodestone, which is made of magnetite, a natural magnetic material.

What are the 3 main types of magnets?

 * Permanent: once it is magnetized, it retains a level of magnetism.
 * Temporary: acts like a permanent magnet when it is within a strong magnetic field, but lose its magnetism when the magnetic field disappears.
 * Electromagnet: a special wire which acts like a permanent magnet when electrical current is flowing in the wire.  For more detail see resource #1.

What are magnets used for?
Magnets are being used by people in many devices e.g: hairdryers, telephones, vacuum cleaners, electric mowers, cassette recorders and LP's. Computers use magnets to save information. Huge magnets are used to separate waste. The earth itself is a huge magnet too. Now people use electromagnets in a train. This is a train without wheels. It rides without touching the rails. In the train and in the rails are magnets that repel each other. The train hovers by the magnetic power and is moved forward by it too.

Magnet treasure hunt
Place around the room objects that will and will not magnetize. See how many different objects they can pick up with their magnet. Suggest: nuts, bolts, tin foil, safety pins, etc.

Mineral rocks with iron
Lay various mineral rocks on a table and see if children can select the ones with iron in them nad then try to pick them up with their magnet.

Move an object with a magnet
Have a friend hold a sheet of paper between his/her two hands, place paper clip on top of the paper and a magnet below. Move the paper clip from one end of the other and back again with your hand. Repeat this experiment by having your friend hold a plastic ruler, mirror, cardboard, etc instead of paper. Did it work?

Create a magnet
Stroke a steelnail against the magnet 25-30 times. Stroke it in only one direction.
 * How many paper clips can you pick up at one time?
 * Is the nail as strong as your magnet?

External Resources
Fun magnet facts for kids - First4magnets.com

Projects by Students for Students- thinkquest.org