Question

A group of students removed the plastic insulation around a wire. They wrapped the uninsulated wire around a steel rivet 50 times in order to make an electromagnet. They connected the wires to a battery to make a complete circuit. They tried to pick up some steel washers, but nothing happened. Below is the advice they received from other groups in the class. What advice should they take to get their electromagnet to pick something up?

a . use insulated wire
b. wrap the wire around the nail more times
c. try picking up aluminum paper clips instead of the steel washers
d. add another d-cell to the circuit

Answer 1

d. add another d-cell to the circuit

Step-by-step explanation:

To make the electromagnet pick something, the student should add another d-cell to the circuit.

Simply, the electromagnet set up is generating very weak magnetic fields.

• To produce an electromagnet, there must be an interaction between electric fields an conductor.
• As the wire turns around in the vicinity of the electric field, it induces magnetism.
• The number of turns of wire here is pretty considerable.
• But the electric field is very weak.
• Additional d-cell in the circuit will circumvent this problem