LKS2 – Class 7 – Science

Today in science, we investigated different forces. First, we recapped what friction was and how it works. Then, we looked that understanding push and pull forces. We went around the room to try and move lots of different items without touching them. After this, we created our own compasses to look more at magnetized forces! In groups, we collected our equipment. We used a large bowl filled with water, a cork, a steel paperclip and a magnet. To begin with, we rubbed the paper clip onto the magnet. We found out that this made the paper clip become its own magnet as it was able to pick up another paper clip that was on the table! Then, we pushed the magnetized paper clip into the cork and carefully placed it sideways into the water and waited. Slowly, the floating cork spun around to point to the magnetized north pole. We then labelled our north and used this to label east, south and west. As a challenge we labelled the intercardinal compass points linking to our previous geography knowledge. We found out that push and pull forces need contact to move, yet magnets can work at a distance!