Science Education
Overview
The Electromagnet Experiment Stand consists of a coil wound from approximately 61 meters (200 feet) of 28 gauge solid core, enamel insulated magnet wire. The electromagnet's core consists of a 5/8" diameter, 5 3/8" long hex bolt. The coil was wrapped around the core in six layers, each containing approximately 180 turns, for a total count of roughly 1050 turns. The coil was tapped between the 3rd and 4th layers so that the inner three layers of the coil could be powered independently from the outer three layers. The electromagnet is powered from a 12 volt, 3.33 amp power supply. As the full coil has a resistance of about 12 ohms, nominal current draw is one amp. A 6 ohm load is added to the circuit when the outer three layers of the coil are not used in order to keep the current flowing through the coil constant. An additional 12 ohm load can be added to the circuit in order to reduce the current flowing through the coil by half. The different settings are controlled by a pair of toggle switches mounted to the front of device, one to control the amount of current flowing through the coils and one to control the number of active coils.
The main base was constructed from sections of 1 × 4 white pine and 1/4" plywood. The electromagnet is suspended above the main base with a support frame made from sections of 1 × 2 white pine.
This page is maintained by Steve Gagnon.