Materials You Will Need:
- 3 needles
- Small strip of paper
- Modeling clay
- Magnet
- Transparent tape
- For outdoors: glass jar, pencil, thread
Please Read Carefully!
All experiments use safe, low-voltage battery power. Household electrical current contains high voltage that could cause serious injury. DO NOT use household electrical current for any of these experiments. ALL experiments should be conducted under adult supervision.
- Carefully follow wiring instructions for each experiment. Improper wiring can result in battery leakage and/or rupture.
- DO NOT take a battery apart. Contact with internal battery material can cause injury.
- DO NOT dispose in fire, recharge, put in backwards, or mix with used or other battery types. This may cause batteries to explode, leak and cause personal injury.
Steps to Make a Magnetic Compass:
- Slide the magnet over two needles several times in the same direction to magnetize them.
- Tape needles to folded paper. Mark needle eye ends "S" and needle point ends "N."
- Insert third needle in clay. Balance center of paper on top of needle.
- Notice the needle will always point in the northward direction.
- To use outdoors, fasten paper to a pencil with thread.
The Earth's metallic core helps create the magnetic field with North and South Poles. A magnetic compass reacts with the Earth's poles to point in the direction of the North Pole.