Magnetic Poles

Magnetic Poles

Place some iron filings on a paper. Place a bar magnet horizontally in the filings and turn it over a few times. Now lift the magnet. What do you see? Which part of the magnet has more iron filings sticking to it? _____________

Which part of the magnet has almost no filings sticking to it? _______________

The parts of the magnet those attract the largest amount of iron filings are called as its poles. The attractive force of the magnet is very large near the two ends. These two ends are called its poles.

If you have a horseshoe magnet, or any other type of magnet at home, find the position of its poles by this experiment.

In experiments with magnets you will need to use iron filings again and again. You can do this by placing a magnet in a pile of sand and turning it around in the sand. The small pieces of iron present in the sand will stick to the magnet. If you cannot find sand you can look for iron pieces in clayey soil as well.

If you don’t have iron filings, you can collect small pieces of iron and they will serve the purpose as well.