What we did today that worked was that we got the magnets on the track to line up with the magnets on the train. Before we figured out that we had to do that, our magnets on our track attracted with the magnets on the train. We needed like poles and since the magnets are not labeled, we needed to find a system. So we marked the tape on the magnets with stars so we would know which side would repel and which side would attract. We also got the train to levitate a little higher with some more strip magnets.

What we did today that failed was that we tried to put some magnets on the side the train was going to on the attract side and a few magnets on the beginning of the track on the repel side. We thought the magnets on the repel side would give a push to the train and the train would get attracted to the magnets on the attract side so the train would move there, but that didn’t work. I learned from my failure that we needed stronger magnetic forces.

My goals for the next session is to get the train to move to the other side with a slight push and for the train to not tip over.

This is my group with our maglev model.