Christopher began his science lab today with an overview of six stations all devoted to experiments or activities involving magnetism.
The lab included making of a compass. This activity helped Christopher to see how he could magnetize a paper clip and place it on a plastic object floating on water. The magnetic north caused the compass to rotate to the Cardinal direction of due North. The validity of the experiment was compared against a read compass. Christopher also did a lab on using a magnet on a variety of items in a tray. Some of these items were not attracted to the magnet such as clay, a marble, and a sponge. Other objects like tacks, a nail, and a metal clip were attracted. Christopher was surprised when he was able to pick up a pin cushion with a magnet simply because there were tiny pins in it. He needed to list four items that were attracted to the magnet and four objects that were not attracted to the magnet. On a third station, Christopher built floating magnets on a pencil by slipping four circle magnets onto a pencil so that the like poles were facing. Christopher was able to demonstrate how the magnets needed to be manipulated in such a way that all of the same poles were facing each other. He did a great job of this activity. At a fourth station, Christopoher made a train of four bar magnets to see the attraction of one magnet after the other. At a fifth station, Christopher tested the strength of three different parts of a horseshoe magnet. He found that the south side held 10 paper clips and the north side held 11 paper clips. Christopher tested the strength of the magnet each time that he added another paper clip. He also tested the middle of the magnet and found that it had no magnetic strength. Christopoher also did a sixth station where he tested the strength of a magnet as it attracted metal objects through various barriers. At the end of the lesson, Christopher devised an experiment to see what would happen if he placed iron filings in a plastic cup along with a paper clip. Christopher was very proud of himself when he designed his own experiment. He noted that the paper clip was magnetized as well as the iron filings and that the iron filings were attracted to the paper clip.