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You Need

1 strong magnet

1 box of objects, such as: a cork, a rubber stopper, a steel washer, aluminum foil, a short piece of copper wire, a glass ‘marble’, a piece of paper, a paper clip, a thumb tack, some staples, a small finishing nail, an aluminum roofing nail.

1 assortment of coins, with a range of dates on them: pennies,nickels,dimes,quarters, dollars, two-dollars.

What to Do

1. You are given a box of objects and a magnet. Your task is to find out which objects are attracted to the magnet. Make a table like Table 1. List all the objects that you test with your magnet.

2. Bring your magnet close to each of the objects in the box, and see if the magnet attracts the object. If it does, place a check mark  in the column with the heading ‘Attracted to Magnet’. If it does not, place a check mark  in the column with the heading ‘Not Attracted to Magnet’.

3. Test other objects in your room or in your pocket. Add them to your list in Table 1.

4. Find out which of these Canadian coins are attracted to your magnet: old penny, recently minted penny (2001 and later), old nickel (before 1982), newer nickel (1982 to 2001),  recently minted nickel (2001 and later) dime, quarter, dollar, two-dollar.

Questions

1. Which of the objects you tested were attracted to your magnet?

2. Which of the ‘magnetic’ objects were made of metal?

3. Were all the metals that you tested ‘magnetic’?

4. Which metals appear to be ‘magnetic’?

5. Which coins are ‘magnetic’? Find out what metal they contain that makes them ‘magnetic’.