Magnetism and Magnetic Force
This topic is broken into units to help in formulating cohesive, effective lessons. Clicking on each unit title below will display appropriate activities, lesson plans, or labs.
Unit materials are a subset of all possible materials available for this topic, selected especially with the new physics teacher in mind. You may instead browse all materials for this topic here .
Conceptual Physics Magnetism and Magnetic Force Units
Magnetic fields can be defined as the regions surrounding a magnet where a moving electric charge will feel a force of attraction or repulsion. Invisible magnetic field lines emerge from the North pole of a magnet and enter the South pole. Field lines can be visualized by sprinkling small iron filings over a magnet covered by a clear sheet of plastic. When a compass (or any freely floating bar magnet) points north, it is actually aligning its north pole to the Earth's magnetic south pole.
Lesson Plans:
This page has many resources that teachers can use when developing lesson plans on the various categories within magnetism.
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Activities:
This has a great lab or activity to use when demonstrating magnetic fields to your students.
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References and Collections:
This page gives many descriptions and details of magnetism in the earth.
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This collection of 41 interactive java tutorials would be an excellent choice to connect physics to "real-world" applications. Designed by well-respected authors, the topics range from simulated magnetic fields and field lines to primers on capacitance, resistance, Ohm's Law, and electromagnetic induction. Included are simulations on how things work, such as vacuum tube diodes, cathode rays, capacitors, AC/DC generators, hard drives, pulsed magnets, and speakers.
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Content Support For Teachers:
People not familiar with magnetism often view it as a somewhat mysterious property of specially treated metals.
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This resource was created by high school teachers to provide colleagues with multi-media tools to aid students in concept building. The unit on Magnetism contains 33 items, ranging among interactive simulations, student tutorials, lecture notes, and short videos. All are classified within well-organized modules.
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Student Tutorials:
This page is a great tutorial for students and/or teachers who want to know more about magnetic fields.
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This resource is a student tutorial on magnetism appropriate for middle school or 9th grade Physical Science. It is organized into sequenced headings that each contain interactive simulations and reflective questions. The first half of the tutorial gives students a conceptual framework to understand properties of magnets and magnetic behavior. The topics then broaden to include magnetic lines of force, magnetic field, electromagnets, electric motors, and galvanometers.
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Lesson Plans:
Content Support For Teachers:
This is a great site for teachers to use as content support when teaching on magnetism and materials that are magnetic.
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Lesson Plans:
This lesson contains instructions for conducting an inquiry-based lab to investigate current-carrying coils in magnetic fields.
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Activities:
This series of inquiry-based activities is designed for the beginning high school physics lab. Students explore the effect of an external field on a current-carrying wire in that field. Students need only very basic prior experience with concepts related to magnetism. Student study guides are included.
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Perhaps the most important result of Faraday's experimentation was the discovery of the electric generator, which transforms mechanical energy into electric energy. This item is a simple interactive simulation that depicts voltage amplitude in a direct current generator. By moving the mouse on a slider, students can see how the frequency of the current is related to voltage and to the speed of the rotating coil.
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