ELECTROMAGNETS

Electromagnets are temporary and artificial magnets. They are

magnets that are only magnetic when there is a coil of wire with
electricity running through it. The coil of wire is called a solenoid. The
strength of the magnet is proportional to the current flowing in the
circuit. The electricity running through the wire is called a current.
The current is the flow of electrons, which are negatively charged
particles. Electromagnets are used for a variety of purposes, for
:example
- Lifting and tranporting large masses of iron scraps, plates etc.
- To separate magnetic material from the junk.

Electromagnets can be made stronger by adding more coils to the

copper wire, or adding an iron core through the coils (for example a
nail). The current can also be increased to make the magnetism
stronger.
Electromagnets work when electricity flows through a wire it makes
a magnetic field around the wire. The direction of the magnetic field
can be found by using the right-hand rule. This means that if a
person points the thumb of their right hand in the direction of the
current, the magnetic field would go around the wire the same way
their fingers would wrap around the wire.

The magnetic field made by a single wire is not usually very strong.
To make an electromagnet, normally the wire is wrapped in many
loops to make the fields of each piece of wire add together into one
stronger magnetic field.

Wanya Nadeem – 9D