Discovery Activities: Mini-Magnets

Determine which materials are magnetic. Explore invisible magnetic fields with variety of natural and manufactured materials.

Contact Information

For more information about this program, contact:

Menzel Smith-Jones
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Bldg.400C – P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000
631-344-4495 (phone)
631-344-7098 (fax)
slc@bnl.gov

Students will perform a scientific experiment to determine which materials are magnetic. They will explore invisible magnetic fields with a variety of natural and manufactured materials.

Vocabulary

magnetic, nonmagnetic, attract, repel, magnetic field, hypothesis, north and south poles

Audience for This Program

Elementary Grades: 1-3

Program Benefits

Lesson Objectives

1) Use the scientific method to conduct an experiment and discover that some metals are attracted to magnets and other metals are not.

2) Discover that magnets have a north and a south pole, and that like poles repel while opposite poles attract.