Research Experiences for Undergraduates
Summer 2003
Project Summary
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Research Experiences for Undergraduates Summer 2003 Project Summary |
Project Title: Electromagnetic Design Lab for Middle School Students
Student Name: Nathan Makowski
Student’s home institution: Hope College
Research Advisor(s): Dr. John Krupczak
Source of Support: NSF-REU
A project combining the scientific principle of electromagnetism with the process of engineering design has been developed. The requirements for the electromagnet were that it is easy for students to build, inexpensive, fun, and performance can be improved by the students through the design process. The simple electromagnet made from a battery, wire, and nail was improved upon to create a more durable and versatile device. A piece of wood was used to hold a nail, switch, and battery in place. Wire is wrapped around the nail, and goes to the switch to complete the circuit with the battery. The basic design developed is one nail, sticking out 5 cm, one AA battery, and ten feet of copper wire costing $1.33. Students can still improve on the design. The design was tested with a number of different variables, trying different combinations. The tests consisted of seeing how many nails the magnet could pull out of a pile of nails. After that the method of testing was changed to using a gaussmeter to measure the magnetic strength. Using this method the length, battery, number of nails, size of nails, and depth of nails were all tested. After building the standard, the kids then modified their magnets in groups changing wire length, batteries, wire size, and number and length of nails. Based on their tests, they then modified their own magnet. The students were able to build them with little help. They had fun and continued to play with them after the testing. The students were able to come up with improvements based on their experiments. Improvements averaged 30% in weight of objects lifted. Variations in devices expected to be identical could be greater than variations caused by design parameters. Pre and post testing showed students content knowledge improved.
Slide show of Nathan Makowski's work (Requires Microsoft PowerPoint or a PowerPoint viewer.)