Magnetic Shields

QUESTION

Which material is the most effective magnetic shield , wood, cardboard, aluminum foil, or ice?

HYPOTHESIS

My hypothesis is that the wood will be the most effective magnetic shield because wood is normally a thicker material and it's a good insulator.

PROCEDURE

1. Collect wood, cardboard, aluminum foil, ice, and paper clips.

2. Put water in a plastic bag and freeze it to make a thin sheet of ice.

3. Take out ice

4. Put one magnet on the one side of the materia

5. Place a pile of paperclips on the other side

6. Count how many paper clips were picked up.

7. Do this two more times with the same material.

8. Repeat steps 4-7 for the rest of the materials

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, ice is was the best magnetic shield. I had hypothesized that the wood was going to be the most effective,but I was wrong and it was ice. This makes sense because the water would have more mass and more area for the magnet to have to go through. To improve my project, I could have cut the cardboard bigger to make it more of the same size as the other materials, and the ice could have been cut smaller because it is larger than the other materials. Another thing that I could have done to make this experiment better would be to time how long the magnet was on the material. If I were to do this again I would make sure to do those things, and I would test even more materials.

ABSTRACT

Which Material Is the Most Effective Magnetic Shield?

For my project, I choose to test which material would be the best magnetic shield. I have always loved magnets and been curious on how they worked. One thing that I always wondered, was what material would block their attraction? I decided to test out of the common materials of wood, cardboard, aluminum foil, and ice. I hypothesize that the wood would be the best magnetic shield, because wood is a thicker material, and it is also a very well known magnetic insulator.

The first step I took when testing, was to lay down pile of 100 paper clips on a flat surface. I then placed the material I was testing on top of the paperclips, making sure the paper clip pile was centered to the material. Each material was cut as close to the same size as I could. I then took one magnet, and placed it on top of the material in the same spot as the paper clips were on the other side. Next, I lifted the material up, while the excess paper clips that the magnet could not hold fell off. I then moved the piece of material away from the other paper clips and counted how many had still attached to the magnet. I then tested two other times with the same material, and repeated this on every material.

The data showed that the ice had the best magnetic shield, while the least effective shield was tin foil. Ice averaged at 2.7 paper clips picked up by the magnet. Wood averaged at 3 paperclips, a close second to the ice. Cardboard had the average of picking up 13.7 paper clips and tin foil average was 22.7 paper clips.

In conclusion, ice is the most effective magnetic shield. I hypothesized that the wood was going to be the best, but was proven wrong.The ice was just as solid and protecting as the wood, but it worked even better. This would make sense because the water would have more mass and more area for the magnet to have to go through. Ice is known as a good insulator and good for protecting radiation too. I could have cut the cardboard bigger to make it more of the same size as the other materials, and the ice could have been cut smaller because it is larger than the other materials. I also could have used battery tools instead of counting paper clips. Another thing that I could have done to make this experiment better would be to time how long the magnet was on the material. If I were to do this again I would make sure to do those things, and I would test even more materials.