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