Science Update!

As we've been reviewing key science concepts, we've stopped to concentrate on Magnetism. The students were particularly enamored with the experiments you can do with Magnets!

Here are some points we discussed and you can review with your child:

• The closer in distance the object is, the greater the force of attraction
• There are two "poles" - the North seeking, and South seeking poles
• The earth is like a great big magnet, because it contains large amounts of iron
• A magnet has an invisible magnetic field surrounding it
• Two north "poles" will repel each other, as will two south "poles". Only a "north" and "south" will attract
• Not all metals will be attracted to magnets; only metals containing large amounts of iron, for example, steel (not aluminum foil, not nickles or pennies
• Magnets are key components for compasses - the "north seeking" pole will always point north
• Magnetite is a mineral that contains large amounts of iron (the greatest amount of naturally-occurring iron), and was used in compasses to help sailors find their way

We tried a cool experiment that allows you to see the "invisible" field around the magnet. We cut steel wool into fine, powdery pieces, and placed them in a jar with oil. We held a strong bar magnet to the outside of the jar, and -wow!- got to see how the steel particles are attracted in a rounded formation.

Try it at home!