Science Experiment - Magnets

This afternoon I came across Shmoo playing quietly in the hallway. As I walked past he excitedly said "Look, Mama!" and, with great delight, showed me his latest discovery: the magnets on the end of his wooden train carriages affected the needle of his compass. I asked why he thought it did that and he wasn't sure so I gave him a brief rundown on compasses and the Earth's magnetic core etc.

After lunch and a quick Google to refresh my memory about some basic magnetic facts, we gathered up a few bits and pieces for a little experiment... a couple of magnetic toy train carriages, compass, fridge magnet, pin, sticky tape, craft foam, and a small bowl of water

 

We ran the pin along the fridge magnet a number of times to magnetise it and then taped it to the craft foam. Apparently a cork is generally utilised in this experiment but we didn't have one. I was rummaging through the activity cupboard, looking for inspiration, when I came across a scrap piece off a sheet of craft foam and figured that would do just as well. We floated the foam-with-attached-pin in the bowl of water and watched as it slowly spun and settled into its desired position. I nudged the compass over next to the bowl so that Shmoo could see that both the pin and compass needle were both pointing North.

  

Then I encouraged Shmoo to see what effect the different ends of his train carriages had on our homemade compass. We discussed North and South and the way magnets attract and repel. He was absolutely fascinated.

As we played and chatted conducted our experiment and discussed our findings, I wrote down the key points and results in Shmoo's notebook. I then left him to it and he continued the research on his own for the next half hour or so before he drew a diagram of the experiment next to my notes.

All of the boys were then distracted by the repair man who came around to fix our heat pump. They watched with intense interest as he installed the new bits and pieces.

Once the repair man left, Shmoo examined the dislodged dust bunnies that had been residing in our now-fixed heat pump for the last couple of months. Tut-tutting his disapproval, he promptly got out his vacuum and sucked them all up... and then went back to his magnet experiment :)

I love watching his curiosity and enthusiasm for learning. And it totally blows me away watching how quickly he makes the connection between things. Like when the tape securing our pin to the craft foam got wet and wouldn't stick anymore. He asked if there was anything else we could use and I stuck the pin to the foam with a small piece of Blu-Tack. After observing it in the water for a few moments, he then complained that it wasn't working as well, that it was much slower to move now. I asked him why he thought that was and after a brief pause he confidently stated that it was because the Blu-Tack was heavier than the sticky tape. And there I was thinking he'd just give me another one of his shrugs and a "Don't know."

Proud Mama :D