This week we added more power. We did this by sticking 2 more bar magnets on top of the old ones. But since the old ones and the new ones repelled, we had to flip the bottom ones so it could stick. I thought there might be a problem, since wouldn’t the train just stick to the bottom magnet? Plus, it wouldn’t be just as powerful. In fact, it would be less powerful! But it did work, and we were happy. The placement of the strip magnets on the tracks was very common. Everybody used it the idea!

The first time, we failed. That’s because our train had South, and the train tracks were North. So it stuck. We fixed that by taking the train out, and then we switched sides. Now it was North to North, so it repelled and the train levitated! When we got it right, though, we needed to make the train fly higher. So, the way we improved it is that we added another 2 magnets to the track.

I learned a lot of things from this experience, from what a maglev is, to the EDP (Engineering Design Process). The EDP, in case you don’t know, goes like this: Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Improve. Working with groups is also something I learned. It told me teamwork is hard, but it pays off. Something else is that a maglev is a levitating vehicle that works with magnets. That’s what maglev stands for: Magnetic levitation.

A maglev train is a train that levitates with the power of magnets. You have to attach magnets to the train’s bottom and the train tracks for it to work. My group thought we should use bar magnets and disc magnets.

Today, when we tried to make the train levitate, it worked on the second try. The first attempt left  train stuck to the tracks. The second levitated an inch from the tracks. My group and I decided we would try to put two strip magnets on the tracks, and then we would put disc magnets on the bottom of the train. We tried to do it, and it didn’t work at first. One of the train’s magnets were on a different side, so it attracted to the tracks. That’s why the first one did not work, because it stuck.

My group didn’t really pay attention in the first few minutes, but we pulled it together. We first cut the strip magnets. We measured it, and that was a bit hard. Then when we cut it, it was also hard, because the strip magnet was very hard. But when we set it up, it was easier than expected. We still struggled to make sure the magnets were on the right side, and that it repelled, but it still was easy.

Today in class, we made electromagnets. Except these ones we didn’t wrap all the way around the bolt(with the wire). So, me and my science group used wire, a few paperclips, a bolt, a battery, and a battery holder.

We first wrapped the wire to a quarter of the bolt. Then, we attached the wire to the battery holder with the battery inside. We tried to get the paperclips to “stick” to the electromagnet. It didn’t stick. We recorded(wrote) what happened on a sheet of lined paper. After that, we wrapped the wire a little further down the bolt, around the middle. We tried to pick up the paperclips, but it didn’t work. Then we wrote our thoughts down. A little later, we wrapped the wire to a third of the bolt. We attempted to pick up the paperclips, and we succeeded! Then we  scribbled our words down. We finally wrapped it all the way to the end, where we found that it was much easier to pick the paperclips up. We were given sheets with questions on them.

If someone asked me,”What did you learn about electromagnets?” I would have answered,” I learned that electromagnets are not permanent, but temporary. That’s because you can disassemble them, or they might run out of power.”If someone also asks me”What questions do you have about magnets?” Then I would have said” How are magnets made? What are magnets made out of? Can a magnet be made out of ordinary metal?”This was a great opportunity for me to learn more about magnets.

Today in science we learned about magnets. I learned that the earth was the largest magnet in the universe. I also learned that gravity seems like a magnet because it pulls things down when they drop, but it isn’t one.

We also went around “stations” that were set up on our tables with our science group(our previous table).  The stations had magnets and “iron dust”. The magnets and dust were there for us to experiment with. We used See Think Wonder sheets to copy down our thoughts.

Then, while my group was at Table 1, it was clean-up time. Some people would clean, but others would still build and experiment with the magnets and dust. Over all, it was really fun.