December 6, 2008: Electric and Magnetic Field Apparatus Make-n-Take Workshop

Presenter: Mark Schober, mschober@jburroughs.org
Where: John Burroughs School, Science Building, Lab 8 (in the basement)
When: Dec. 6, 8:30 am - noon

We will start by doing labs as your students would see them, all using the same multi-purpose apparatus.
Lab 1: Mapping electric fields.
Lab 2: Mapping the magnetic field of a current carrying wire.
Lab 3: Quantitative determination of magnetic field strength vs. distance from a current carrying wire.
Lab 4: Magnetic forces between two current carrying wires.
Lab 5: Magnetic forces between current carrying wires and permanent magnets.

We will then finish assembling the equipment you will take back to your classroom. (Much of the materials will be prepared thanks to some student labor!)

Everyone who attends the workshop will get a CD with activities and templates.

Each apparatus consists of the following parts: (.pdf with construction details)
Wood parts of the apparatus plus feet, eye hooks, indexing dowels, and hanger
3 pvc pipes for electric field mapping
1 wool square for charging pvc.
1 Long wire
2 Stiff "U" wires
1 ceramic magnet (poles on flat faces)
1 magnetic compass with good angle resolution
-- All for the low, low price of $15. Send Mark Schober an email (mschober@jburroughs.org) indicating how many you want before Thanksgiving so he can order the parts.

Needed, but not included:
Battery pack or high current power supply. I have a plan for using old computer power supplies, so pull out your old power supplies before recycling your computers!
Multimeters - I can get excellent digital multimeters for you for $5 each. Add that to your email to me if you are interested.

Apparatus for mapping the magnetic field around a current carrying wire:

Apparatus configured for mapping the electric field: