RT;DL Electric Magnetism

With Ørsted's Discovery, we established that electric currents are surrounded by magnetic fields. In this activity, we extend that to the design of electromagnets and motors. In our traditional, In-Person Learning electricity and magnetism sequence, we would have used our Genecon hand-crank generators to power electric circuits. In short, we would have been familiar with their utility as generators. Here we turn the tables so that the Genecons become motors.

This one is also a bit fiddly in class: St. Louis motors are great, but students will discover all the ways they can go wrong. I don't think that's a bad thing, but there is frustration in the room. You lose that in the RT;DL version. You lose a lot in most RT;DL activities.

But it's a nice sequence of observations, building on Ørsted's Discovery and setting up the next activity: Magnetic Electricity.

Electric Magnetism [Virtual Lab Experiment] at Teachers Pay Teachers includes

Student Document (Google Docs)

Observations (HTML Export | Movie Export linked in Student Document)

Answer Key (Google Docs)

Media links are included in the student document. The HTML export is preferred. The movie export is available for use on devices that struggle with the HTML export.

Enjoy my lack of professional production sets, lighting, and technique. These are all shot in my classroom using classroom apparatus and lighting options, and shot on my iPhone 8. Presentations are created in Apple Keynote and exported as HTML and exported as a movie.

One More Thing: I just noticed this delightful bit of apparatus available from Arbor Scientific. Simple and effective for working out the right-hand rule for the magnetic force on a current-carrying wire.