Teaching Minds-On Experiments on Electromagnetism in Secondary Schools


Tile of 5 magnetic rings around a stick: what are the distances?

The toy consists of four flat disc-like magnets with a whole in the centre. The magnets are threaded on a plastic pole. The magnets are very unsociable - whenever you try to push them close to each other they oppose and they even push back your hand. But if you turn them they will stick to each other and it will be very difficult to separate them.
Notice that the middle magnet levitates closer to the bottom one, and not somewhere in the middle. This is because it is pushed down by the weight of the top magnet. The middle magnet supports the top one, but is at the same time pushed down. Each action has its reaction, as was stated by Newton in his Third Law.