Magnet making Current - Smarter Every Day 16

Destin is at the National Electronics Museum in Baltimore to learn about electronics.

John McCarty, a museum volunteer, is present to demonstrate the relationship between current flow and magnetism.

• A magnet positioned on one side of a tube • A coil of wire connected to a galvanometer • Galvanometer set up to measure DC amps

Show how dropping a magnet through the coil generates measurable current.

When the magnet is twisted and falls through the coil, current flow is generated that registers on the galvanometer.

A current spike is visible on the measuring device as the magnet passes through.

When the magnet is turned the opposite way, will the current flow be positive or negative?

Viewers are invited to predict the direction the needle will move before the experiment result is revealed.