Science Fair 2005

So for the past two weeks, Joshua and I had been working on his Science Fair project. He wanted to do something with electromagnets, so I opened up 700 Science Experiments for Everybody and let him look at what they had in there. He thought the experiment to compare electromagnets with different numbers of coils sounded interesting.

As per what the book suggested, we built two electromagnets. One had 100 coils and the other 200. I am too embarrassed to describe what it was like trying to make electromagnets out of 12 gauge wire. We went back to Home Depot and got 20 gauge. BTW, the nice young woman at Home Depot named Morgan knows more about wire than I do. She suggested I use 20 gauge in the first place.

We also spent an inordinate amount of time building a stand to hold the two electromagnets. Thank you Mom and Dad for forcing me to learn basic carpentry!

Heh. I'd start cutting wood and Joshua would beg and beg to use the circular saw. One night, after we were finished with some drill work, he took the drill and some scrap boards into his bedroom just so he could practice drilling holes! We had many lessons on using a drill as a driver and he has become a competent assistant.

Joshua found a speed switch on the drill I had never noticed before. I showed him how to set the torque control.

Here are some pix: