Other
Sc Icentre: Magnets and Magnetism
Gives a simple description of the theory of magnetism and the properties of a magnet. Very good descriptions for beginning level.
Canada Science and Technology Museum
Canada Science and Technology Museum: Background Information for Magnets
What makes a magnet? Learn all about magnets in this Q&A section. Educator resource materials are linked to this site.
Florida State University
Florida State University: Magnet Lab: Discovery of Electromagnetism
Two scientists share the credit for discovering, and then interpreting, the phenomenon of electromagnetism.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Maglev Trains
Maglev trains are making history right now.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Oersted's Compass
Recreate the discovery by Hans Christian Oersted about the relationship between electricity and magnetism in this very simple experiment.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Barkhausen Effect
The Barkhausen effect makes the concept of magnetic domains audible (if not exactly music to the ear).
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Oersted's Compass 1820
Compasses had been steering people in the right direction for many centuries when, in the year 1820, one particular compass made a very different sort of revelation to an unsuspecting Danish science professor.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: William Gilbert
William Gilbert was an English physician and natural philosopher who wrote a six-volume treatise that compiled all of the information regarding magnetism and electricity known at the time. The work included descriptions of many of...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: William Thomson, Lord Kelvin
William Thomson, known as Lord Kelvin, was one of the most eminent scientists of the nineteenth century and is best known today for inventing the international system of absolute temperature that bears his name. He made contributions to...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Wilhelm Weber
Find out more about German physicist Wilhelm Weber, who developed and enhanced a variety of devices for sensitively detecting and measuring magnetic fields and electrical currents.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Magnetic Lines of Force
In this activity discover the direction of the magnetic field by making patterns of the field visible with iron filings.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Magnetic Pendulums
See how electricity and magnetism interact with this activity. Activity has students creating a current by swinging a copper coil through a magnetic field. The copper coil will start a second coil swinging as well.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Modulated Coil
Can you hear a magnet? In this activity you will be able to transfer the sound from your iPhone, iPod or radio to a cassette-tape player.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Strange Attractor
Explore the chaotic motion of a pendulum that is swinging above several magnets that are fixed in place and see what patterns you can find.
E-learning for Kids
E Learning for Kids: Science: Alexandrian Lighthouse: What Are Properties of Magnets?
Learn about the properties of magnets, what metals are attracted to them, what magnetic poles do, and about repulsion and attraction.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Properties of Magnets
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Looks at magnetic materials and the structure and breadth of a magnetic field. The concept of magnetic domains is explained, and how they behave in a magnetic field....
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Magnetic Force on Moving Electric Charges
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] This lesson examines how moving electric charges are affected when inside a magnetic field. Students are shown how to calculate the force on a single moving electric...
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Cup Speaker
This activity will have students creating their own speaker with a paper cup, coil of wire, and magnet. The speaker operates by changing electric current into sound.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Iron Hidden in Your Food
An activity where students investigate how much iron is in a sample of breakfast cereal.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Drawing Field Lines
A well illustrated activity where students investigate and draw the magnetic field lines created with a bar magnet and a compass.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Making Ferrofluid
An interesting activity where students make a ferrofluid (a liquid with magnetic particles floating in it) and explore how it responds to a magnetic field. Well illustrated.
Famous Scientists
Famous Scientists: Hans Christian Oersted
Learn how Hans Christian Oersted's discoveries in electricity led him to discover electromagnetism.
