1. The compass was placed on the lab table with no magnets nearby to identify what direction was north relative to the classroom.
2. On the ends of the variable gap magnet there were two small magnetic disks. One arm of the magnet was unscrewed and removed from its housing. A meter stick was placed on the and the arm was on its side parallel to the meter stick. The Gauss-Tesla meter was used to measure the field strength of the magnet. The probe attached to the meter was perpendicular to the meter stick. There were 4 steps to this process:
a. The field strength was measured with the probe flat against the magnetic disk
b. The probe was moved one centimeter away from the disk and the field strength was measured. This step was repeated until the maximum distance of 20 cm away from the disk was reached.
c. The distance (r) and the field strength (B) was recorded in a table
d. The square root of the field strength vs the distance from the disk was plotted …show more content…
The magnetic disk was returned to the arm of the variable gap magnet being certain that the north end of both magnetic disks points in the direction. The variable gap magnet was placed beside a rod stand with a wooden crosspiece. An aluminum paddle with no slits in it was connected to the small end of the slots at the end of the wooden crosspiece. The height of the crosspiece was adjusted so that the paddle hangs directly between the poles of the variable gap magnet. The gap spacing was adjusted so that the paddle hung directly between the poles with just enough space to swing through. The paddle was swung between the gap to see if the motion was dampened as it passed through. This process was repeated for three different