Primary 6 · Science · Interactions: Magnets
Interactions: Magnets questions for Primary 6 Science
9 questions to work through online, 2 of them written out the way the paper asks. Answer and you get the working straight away, then a score at the end. No sign-up, and you can retake it as often as you like.
- Repulsion as proof
- Reasoning about the remaining bar
- What proves what
- Induced magnetism
- Electromagnet strength
- Magnetic materials
- Naming the proof
- Naming the effect
- Applying the ideas
| Pair tested | Result |
|---|---|
| P and Q | attract |
| Q and R | repel |
| P and R | attract |
Same picture as the question above.
| Electromagnet | Turns of wire | Batteries | Clips picked up |
|---|---|---|---|
| J | 40 | 1 | 6 |
| K | 40 | 2 | 13 |
| L | 80 | 1 | 12 |
| M | 80 | 2 | 25 |
Answers and explanations for all 9 questions
Every answer with the reasoning behind it. Worth reading after you have tried the set — or on its own, if you are a parent marking it.
Based on the table above, which bars must definitely be magnets?
Answer: Q and R
Only two magnets can repel. Q and R repelled, so both are magnets. P attracts both, which any magnetic material would do.
Using the same table, what can be said about bar P?
Answer: It is made of a magnetic material, but it may or may not be a magnet.
P is attracted by two known magnets, so it is magnetic. But attraction happens whether or not P is itself magnetised, so it cannot be settled either way.
Which two conclusions can be drawn when two bars repel each other?
Answer: A and B only
Repulsion needs two magnets with like poles facing. That is why it is the only reliable test, and why attraction proves so much less.
In the set-up above, what happens if the top clip is lifted off the magnet while the chain is held?
Answer: The chain falls apart, because the clips are no longer magnetised.
Each clip is a temporary magnet only while the magnet's field reaches it. Take the magnet away and the whole chain loses its magnetism at once.
Based on the table above, which comparison shows the effect of the number of turns alone?
Answer: J and L
J and L both have one battery and differ only in turns, so the rise from 6 to 12 clips is the turns' doing. K and M would work equally well.
Which two of these would a magnet attract?
Answer: A and B only
Only some metals are magnetic. Iron and steel are; copper and aluminium are not, which is why 'all metals are magnetic' is wrong.
Attraction happens between a magnet and any magnetic material, but one effect can only happen between two magnets. What is that effect called?
Answer: repulsion
The effect that only two magnets can produce is repulsion.
A paper clip touching a magnet becomes able to attract a second clip, but loses that ability when the magnet is removed. This effect is called magnetic ______ .
Answer: induction
A magnetic material becoming a temporary magnet in a magnet's field is magnetic induction.
A pupil has two identical-looking bars: one is a magnet and one is plain iron. How can she tell which is which using only the two bars?
Answer: Touch the end of one bar to the middle of the other and see which way round it sticks.
With one magnet and one plain bar nothing will ever repel, so that test is no help. But a magnet is weak at its middle: the plain bar's end will cling to the magnet's end and not to its centre, while the magnet's end clings anywhere along the plain bar.