Dip a bar magnet into a box of steel paperclips and lift it out. The clips hang in two thick clumps, one at each end. The middle comes out almost bare.
In the Fields topic you saw that every magnet has a north pole and a south pole. This lesson adds where the magnet's effect is strongest.
The clips tell you something: the magnet does not attract equally strongly everywhere. The two ends hold thick clumps of clips. The middle holds almost none.
The two ends are the magnet's poles: its north pole and its south pole.
Where is a magnet's magnetic effect strongest?
Iron filings are sprinkled onto a sheet of paper lying over a bar magnet. Where do the filings gather thickest?
The filings gather where the magnetic effect is strongest.
A magnet's magnetic effect is strongest at its two poles.
The filings gather thickest over the magnet's two ends, its poles.
Hana dips a bar magnet into a box of steel thumbtacks. Where do the tacks cluster?
A horseshoe magnet is dipped into a tub of steel ball bearings. Where do the bearings cling?
A horseshoe magnet is a bar magnet bent into a U, so its two poles are the two open ends.
The magnetic effect is strongest at the poles.
The bearings cling in clumps at the two open ends.
Jude says the middle of a bar magnet pulls a steel clip only weakly. Is Jude correct?
Petra lays a bar magnet flat on a tray of steel staples and lifts it. Where do the staples hang?
Omar holds a steel clip first at a bar magnet's end, then at its middle. Where is the pull on the clip stronger?
Which statement about a bar magnet's magnetic effect is correct?