07 Magnets

A file clip has fallen into a glass of

water (Fig. 7.1). Can you suggest a
way to get it out without either spilling the
water or putting your hand in ?

As shown in the figure 7.1 you can get it

with the use of a magnet. It is possible to
do so because the magnets have the special
property of attracting things towards its
direction.
Fig.7.1

There are magnets in many things which we use in our day-to-day life.
For instance small motors, pencil boxes, some toys etc.

Fig.7.2 Some examples where magnets are used

Assignment 7.1

Make a report of other instances where you can find

magnets in day-to- day life.

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 7'1 Effects of Magnets
Let us do the following activity to observe the effect created by magnets
on other materials.

Activity 7.1
You will need (- a magnet, some iron nails, some brass nails, a
piece of Copper wire, a piece of Aluminum sheet, a coin, a piece
of plastic, a piece of wood, a piece of paper, a needle
Method (-
² Keep each of the above items near the magnet and observe the
changes.
² Then list them in the grid given below.
Things which did not get
Things which got attracted
attracted towards the
towards the magnet
magnet

Through this activity we can understand that some materials get attracted
towards the magnet while some others do not.
Assignment 7.2
Take a magnet to your compound and findout the things that get
attracted to it.

7'2 Different Types of Magnets

The magnets differ from each other due to their shapes. Also they are
used for different purposes.

Horse shoe Ring Tabular

Bar magnet U magnet
magnet magnet magnet
Fig.7.3 Different types of magnets
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 Assignment 7.3
Collect some magnets from equipment where magnets are used
or discarded and categorize them according to their shapes.

7'3 Magnetic Poles

Through the activity in 7.1 you have understood that some materials get
attracted to magnets. Let's do the following activity to observe whether
the materials get attracted equally to each and every spot of a magnet.

Activity 7.2
Let's identify the poles of a magnet.
You will need (- some file clips, a bar magnet, a piece of
cardboard.
Method (
² Spread the file clips evenly on the piece of cardboard.
² Then slowly lower the magnet towards the piece of cardboard.
² Now observe what happens and report the observations.

You will observe that there are more file clips near the two ends of
the magnet.
So you must understand that the attractive power of the magnet is more
at the ends than the middle. The two ends where the power of attraction
is more are called the magnetic poles.

Fig.7.4 Magnetic poles

Science |Magnets 101

 7'4 The Behaviour of a Magnet

Activity 7.3
Let's identify the poles of a magnet.
You will need (- a wooden stand, a compass,
a string, a magnet without poles marked Strin
Method (-
² Use the compass and mark the North and
South on the table with the help of the
teacher. Compass
² Then hang the magnet steadily from the Wood
string to the stand as shown in the figure. Stand
² After that let the magnet to be still.
² Now find the direction to which the magnet
has stopped according to the marked
directions on the table.
Fig.7.5
² Do the activity for several times and
observe.
You can see that the magnet lies still between the North and South.
Further more you can engage in the following activity too.

Activity 7.4
Let's identify the poles of a magnet
You will need (- a water bath, a piece of regifoam, a bar magnet.
Method ( Piece of regiform Magnet
² Do this activity on the same
desk which was used for the
activity 7.3.
'² Cut the piece of regiform as
shown in the figure.
² Then keep the bar magnet on
the piece of regiform and let it Fig.7.6
float on the water.

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 ² Identify the direction to where the magnet is heading after it
goes still'
² Repeat activity and get observations.

From these experiments you can understand that the magnet always
stay still in between North and South. We can identify that the North
pole of the magnet is the North of the compass and the South pole of
the magnet is the South of the compass. We mark the North pole of a
magnet as "N" and the South pole as "S".

For Your Extra Knowledge

The pilots, sailors, explorers and soldiers use the

compass to find their direction.
Fig.7.7 a compass

7'5 Interactions between the Poles of Magnets

Activity 7.5
You will need (- two bar magnets with Wooden Stand
poles marked (Name the magnets as A
and B), a wooden stand, strings String
Method (
² Fix the magnet "A" as shown in the
figure. Bar Magnets
² After it becomes still bring the magnet
"B" towards it according to the
following instructions.
Fig.7.8

Science |Magnets 103

 North pole of B towards the North pole of A
South pole of B towards the North pole of A
South pole of B towards the South pole of A
North pole of B towards the South pole of A

N N

N S

S S

S N
Fig 7.9
The same poles do not get attracted but get repelled and the different
poles get attracted.

Assignment 7.4
When you are provided with an unmarked magnet, identify and
mark the poles of it by using a marked magnet.
Activity 7.6
Let's identify a magnet from different objects.
You will need (- a small unmarked bar magnet, an iron nail, a
pencil, a marked bar magnet
Method (-
² Take the above mentioned things near the North pole of the
marked magnet and observe.
² Then move them near the South pole of the magnet and note
down the observations.
² Now tabulate your observations in the following grid.
When moved near the When moved near the
Substance
North pole South pole
Iron nail
Pencil
Small bar
magnet
104 Science |Magnets
Now compare your observations with the following observations.

Only an attraction is seen

Neither an attraction nor a

repulsion is seen

When moved towards the N

pole it repels and when it is
moved towards the S pole it
gets attracted.

The power of repulsion of magnets can be used to identify a magnet

among some other objects.

Assignment 7.5
You are provided with an iron nail, a magnet and a piece of
plastic wrapped in pieces of paper separately. Suggest a way to
identify them using a marked bar magnet.

7'6 Magnetic Forces

Activity 7.7
You will need (- a bar magnet, iron fillings, a white paper
Method (-
² Keep the magnet under the paper and spread the iron fillings on
the sheet of paper.
² Now tap the paper slowly.
² Observe carefully.

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You will see that the iron fillings are arranged according to a pattern.
The iron fillings fallen a little bit away from the magnet are seen in
an irregular manner. Accordingly we can understand that the magnetic
forces are spread around a limited area of the magnet.

For Your Extra Knowledge

The area which the magnetism is
spread around the magnet is called
the magnetic field.

Fig. 7.10 Spread of magnetic force

Demonstrating the Magnetism

Activity 7.8
You will need (- some magnets and some small nails (you can
use either file clips or pins)
Method (-
² Take one magnet at a time and hang each of
the nails as shown in the figure.
² Now count the number of nails hung on each
magnet.
Fig.7.11
² Through this you will be able to identify the
most powerful magnet.

We can conclude that the magnet which bears the most number of nails
has the highest magnetic power.

Assignment 7.6
List out the events where we use magnets in our day-to-day
life.

106 Science |Magnets

 Activity 7.9
Let's row a boat.
You will need (- a piece of wooden plank, a small magnet, a file
clip, a water basin, a small stick, some clay, an iron rod, a
triangular piece of paper
Method (- magnet file clip
² Make a small boat using the above iron
rod clay
materials and keep it on water. water
wooden plank
² Fix the magnet to the iron rod.
² Then move it near the boat.
² What can you observe now ?

Fig. 7.12

Assignment 7.7
² Engage in some other enjoyable activities using magnets.
² Organize an exhibition with your friends’ creations too.

For Your Extra knowledge

Having powerful magnets closer by may cause damages
to computers, televisions, mobile phones and land phones.

For Your Extra knowledge

The magnetic poles of tabular magnets and barium ferrite
magnets are on top and bottom sides and not at the two ends.

Science |Magnets 107

 Summary
² Only some materials are attracted to a magnet.
² The area with a higher magnetism is known as the poles of a
magnet.
² There are two poles of a magnet, namely North pole and South
pole.
² We can easily find the North and South poles of a magnet with
the help of a compass.
² Same magnetic poles repel each other.
² Different magnetic poles attract each other.
² We use magnets for various purposes in our day-to-day life.

Exercise
01. Choose which of the given materials will get attracted to a
magnet.
iron nails, lead wire, marbles, a glass rod, a blade, a gold ring

02. Mark true () or false ()

² Brass is a material which gets attracted to magnets ' ^ &
² All the spots of a magnet have the same power of
magnetism' ^ &
² We can find the North pole of a magnet with the help of a
compass' ^ &
² Any metal is attracted to a magnet' ^ &
² When a magnet is being hung freely it always lies in the
direction of North- South' ^ &

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03' Fill in the blanks using the appropriate word from the words
given in the brackets.
The .................... is higher at the poles of the magnet. Same
types of poles are named as .................... . These type of
magnetic poles .................... each other. The different types of
poles are named as .................... . These types of magnetic pole
.................... each other.
(attract, repel, magnetism, like poles, unlike poles)
04' Suggest a way to find the most powerful magnet out of two
given magnets.
05' What will happen if the two toy cars are kept as above? Give
reasons.

Glossary

Magnets - pqïnl - Põ¢u®

Bar magnets - oKav pqïnl - \mhUPõ¢u®
Magnetic poles - pqïnl O%ej - Põ¢u •øÚÄ
North pole - W;a;r O%ejh - Áh•øÚÄ
South pole - olaIsK O%ejh - öuß•øÚÄ
Attraction - wdl¾IKh - PÁºa]
Repulsion - úl¾IKh - uÒÐøP
Compass - ud,sudj - vø\Põmi

Science |Magnets 109