Experiment El-04
Falling Aluminum Sheet
Description: A
sheet of aluminum is allowed to fall between the poles of a large alnico magnet.
While the sheet is between the poles, it moves more slowly. Movie clips of this
experiment are available: .avi
(Windows) and .mov (Mac).
Setup
for experiment. Note that the torque of the large magnet is compensated for
by a heavy brick (left of picture).
A more impressive demonstration
uses a metal and a magnetic slug dropped into a vertical aluminum tube. The magnetic
slug takes considerably longer to fall through the tube. Placing a metal pan under
the tube will allow students to hear when the slug falls out of the tube. Movie
clips of this experiment are available: .avi
(Windows) and .mov (Mac).
Experimental
setup for alternate version of experiment. Note that the metal pan has been
slightly propped so that it will sound louder when the slug hits it.
Materials: large
alnico magnet, aluminum sheet; aluminum tube, support, aluminum slug, magnetic
slug, metal pan (optional)
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This page was last updated on
Friday August 15, 2008 8:37 PM