Magnetic Electricity

Overview

Objectives/Goals My hypothesis is that a spark will arc from an electrical source to the north polarity of a magnet. Methods/Materials A Van de Graff generator was constructed so I would have a free source of electricity. A compass was also constructed in order to determine the polarity of the magnet. I then performed several experiments where I touched the magnet to the generator and tested how well electricity could travel through each of the magnet's polarities. I was looking for electricity to be drawn out of the generator in the form of a spark. Results My results were varied. Sometimes I saw a large spark arcing toward the north polarity from the generator. And sometimes no spark could be seen arcing at all. The exact same thing happened with the south polarity. Conclusions/Discussion My hypothesis was not correct. The electricity could not be seen arcing from the generator to the north polarity at a greater degree than to the south polarity. There is still a lot to learn about the similarities and differences between electricity and magnetism.

Competition history

• CSEF 2006 Electricity & Electronics · Entry J0732

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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