When you hear the word “Field”, what comes to mind? Most people probably think of a sports field or a field of grass; well in this case, the word “field” refers to any region in which a physical force has an effect. For example, the entire Earth has a Gravitational field which is the reason objects and things stay planted on the surface of the planet rather than floating away. Planet Earth has more than just a Gravitational field however, it also has an electrical field and a magnetic field. We may not be able to “view” or “see” these fields but we know they are due to an array of reasons.

In this lab, the 8th grade used magnets to study the effects of them and their magnetic fields on other objects. In the first part of the lab, the students put a compass (set to 0 degrees) on one end of the table and a magnet with the south pole facing towards the compass on the opposite side of the table. Each student slowly moved the magnet closer to the compass and they used a meter stick to record their distance from the compass in centimeters. Now, compasses point to magnetic north which means they react to magnetic fields so the goal of this experiment is to see at which distance the magnet needs to be at to start to have an effect on the compass. Once the compass needle changed 15 degrees students noted the distance and degree on a table. After collecting 5 data points (all moving closer to the compass until the magnet was touching the compass at 0cm) the students then graphed their information so they can see the trend. Students concluded that as the magnetic field from the magnet reached the compass from about 30cm and the closer the magnet was moved to the compass, the more the needle changed its direction.

In the second part of the lab, the students had 5 different types/shaped magnets and a bag full of iron filings. The students used the magnets to manipulate the iron filings so they could actually see the magnetic field lines due to the alignment of the filings. The students were in awe when the iron filings would realign into magnetic field lines as the magnets came within range. These labs brought what may seem like an abstract concept to life!