now magnets are everywhere there in
computers televisions hi-fi’s fans
washing machines stereo equipment tape
players absolutely everywhere right down
to the humble fridge magnet and they
vary in scale enormous leap from the
microscopic right up to the planetary
that’s right folks we’re sitting on the
biggest magnet of all the earth itself
so what is a magnet well a magnet is
defined as any object that attracts iron
and produces an external magnetic field
and as you probably learnt at school the
regions at the end of a magnet where the
external magnetic fields are strongest
accord the poles and every magnet has to
one north and one south and the first
law of magnetism is that opposite poles
attract while the same poles repel and
because the earth is one big magnet if
you suspend a simple bar magnet within
the Earth’s magnetic field it will
naturally orientate itself north to
south and this is exactly how a compass
works it’s been discovered that homing
pigeons have got a naturally occurring
magnetic mineral in their beaks called
magnetite this makes them sensitive to
the Earth’s magnetic field and helps
with their navigation one of the
surprising things about magnetism is its
relationship to electricity did you know
for example you can generate an electric
current using a magnet now underneath
this tape is copper wire wrapped around
this copper tube and if I drop a magnet
through the tube it generates an
electric current in the wire which will
light up these LEDs
this process is called electromagnetic
induction and perhaps one of the most
surprising applications of
electromagnetic induction can be found
on the powerful brakes used on some
fairground rides
the brake system of this awesome theme
park ride is totally reliant on magnets
Sol rich let’s get it over with or
either this ride is brilliant in its
simplicity the two-ton cars are winched
to the top of the 60 meter tower by
powerful electric motors right come on
we can do it and boy is it a long way up
like all magnets the magnets in the drop
car produced their own magnetic fields
they’re shown here in red as the car
Falls at 22 m/s it passes these copper
fins and the falling motion across these
fins creates an electric current which
in turn creates its own magnetic field
however this field is equal and opposite
to the field created by the magnets in
the drop car the effect of these
opposing magnetic fields is so powerful
it brings the car to a halt
it’s called eddy currents braking and
it’s amazing
and the only thing stops
you
computers televisions hi-fi’s fans
washing machines stereo equipment tape
players absolutely everywhere right down
to the humble fridge magnet and they
vary in scale enormous leap from the
microscopic right up to the planetary
that’s right folks we’re sitting on the
biggest magnet of all the earth itself
so what is a magnet well a magnet is
defined as any object that attracts iron
and produces an external magnetic field
and as you probably learnt at school the
regions at the end of a magnet where the
external magnetic fields are strongest
accord the poles and every magnet has to
one north and one south and the first
law of magnetism is that opposite poles
attract while the same poles repel and
because the earth is one big magnet if
you suspend a simple bar magnet within
the Earth’s magnetic field it will
naturally orientate itself north to
south and this is exactly how a compass
works it’s been discovered that homing
pigeons have got a naturally occurring
magnetic mineral in their beaks called
magnetite this makes them sensitive to
the Earth’s magnetic field and helps
with their navigation one of the
surprising things about magnetism is its
relationship to electricity did you know
for example you can generate an electric
current using a magnet now underneath
this tape is copper wire wrapped around
this copper tube and if I drop a magnet
through the tube it generates an
electric current in the wire which will
light up these LEDs
this process is called electromagnetic
induction and perhaps one of the most
surprising applications of
electromagnetic induction can be found
on the powerful brakes used on some
fairground rides
the brake system of this awesome theme
park ride is totally reliant on magnets
Sol rich let’s get it over with or
either this ride is brilliant in its
simplicity the two-ton cars are winched
to the top of the 60 meter tower by
powerful electric motors right come on
we can do it and boy is it a long way up
like all magnets the magnets in the drop
car produced their own magnetic fields
they’re shown here in red as the car
Falls at 22 m/s it passes these copper
fins and the falling motion across these
fins creates an electric current which
in turn creates its own magnetic field
however this field is equal and opposite
to the field created by the magnets in
the drop car the effect of these
opposing magnetic fields is so powerful
it brings the car to a halt
it’s called eddy currents braking and
it’s amazing
and the only thing stops
you
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