Electromagnets

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Fuses

What are Electromagnets?

Electromagnets are a type of magnet that you can make using a piece of iron, a wire (that you have to coil around the iron) and a battery.  You have to switch on the battery, which should be connected to the wire. The iron will attract other metals, just like a magnet.  If you leave the wire attached to the battery, it will begin to get hot.

You can use electromagnets for lots of things: loudspeakers, relays and circuit-breakers. They are also used in car scrap-yards.

by Teodora

How Do They Work?

Every wire has a magnetic field around it, but this only happens if there is current flowing through it.  Every current produces a magnetic field. This effect is used in electromagnets.

The field which is produced by the electromagnet is similar to the field around a bar magnet. If it has no iron core it will still produce a field, only it won’t be so strong because the iron makes it stronger.

The iron core becomes magnetised when the current is switched on and it loses its magnetism when it is switched off. A steel core however will always keep its magnetism.

by Emma

 

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