Milton Wilches

10/30/13
Block 1-2
Research Plan

Research Question- What is the affect of temperature on magnets?
Hypothesis- If the temperature at which a magnet is put at does affect a magnets magnetism then the magnet
should have a higher magnetism at a low temperature than at a high temperature because from previous
research I know that increasing temperature usually causes a small decrease in field strength. As temperature
increases further, this slope of a magnets magnetism gradually gets larger (increases), until, approaching the
Curie temperature of the magnet, its magnetism dives to zero and is extinguished.
Variables-
Independent variable: The independent variable will be the temperature at which the magnets will be set
at for the experiment.
Dependent variable: The increase or decrease in the amount of paperclips that are picked up by each
magnet at each different temperature will be the dependant variable.
Constant variable: The magnet will be the constant variable because I will be using the same magnet
throughout the experiment.
Materials
Bowl (any size big enough to fit about 100 paperclips in it)
1 alnico magnet (size about 4 in. X 4 in.)
100 small paperclips
Thermometer
A cooking pot
A spatula
A flat table
Water
A stove
Adult supervision
A sheet of paper and a pen
A computer with Microsoft Word and excel programs




Procedures-
1) Gather all materials
2) Place your bowl on the table close to the stove
3) Deposit all the paperclips into the bowl
4) Add about 1 cup of cold water (15 Celsius) into the pot
5) Place the magnet inside the pot and wait a few seconds
6) Using the thermometer, take the temperature of the water (which will be the temperature of the magnet
or at least very close)
7) Write down your trial number (there will be 5 trials total. You will use 5 different temperatures in each
trial)
8) Write down your temperature in Celsius
9) Using the spatula, take the magnet out of the water and shake it once just to dry it a little bit
10) Immediately after, place the magnet in the container on top of the paperclips and take it out in a second
11) Count the number of paperclips that the magnet was able to pick up
12) Write down your number right next to your trial number and temperature
13) Remove the paperclips from the magnet and place them back into the container
14) Place the pot on the stove and turn it on, on a low level
15) Place the magnet inside the pot
16) Using the thermometer, take the temperature of the water letting it increase for only 10 more Celsius
17) Remove the pot from the stove
18) Repeat steps 7 through 16, 3 more times until your temperature gets to 55 Celsius
19) Repeat the whole experiment 4 more times to complete 5 trials
Raw Data-
Number of paperclips picked up for every different temperature magnet per trial
Temperature Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5
15 Celsius 5 6 4 4 5
25 Celsius 7 7 6 5 7
35 Celsius 8 7 7 6 7
45 Celsius 8 9 7 6 9
55 Celsius 9 9 8 7 9








Processed Data and Graph-
Average number of paperclips picked up per Magnet Temperature:
Temperature
in Celsius 15 25 35 45 55
Number of
paper clips
(average of
trials) 5 6 7 8 8

Graph 1: Average number of paperclips picked up at each temperature

This shows the average number of paperclips picked up at each temperature
Graph 2: Average number of paperclips picked up at each temperature

This shows the average number of paperclips picked up at each temperature
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15 Celsius 25 Celsius 35 Celsius 45 Celsius 55 Celsius
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Temperature in Celsius
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Number of Clips picked
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Temperature
Data Analysis-
The way that I am going to analyze my data is by placing the magnet at a different temperature (15, 25,
35, 45 & 55 Celsius). After that, what I will do is to place the magnet into a bowl full of paperclips, and
then I will take the magnet out of the bowl and count how many paperclips were attached to the magnet.
When the magnet gets the most paperclips picked up, the temperature of the magnet will determine the
highest magnetism of the magnet. Depending at which temperature that magnet was at, my hypothesis
will either be proved right or wrong. I will also repeat this several times (5 trials per temperature) and
then, I will get the average of the paperclips picked up on the trials per temperature. With my data
results and the average, I will be able to get to a conclusion.

Bibliography-
"Basics of Magnetism." By Ron Kurtus. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2013. <http://www.school-for-
champions.com/science/magnetism.htm>.
"Magnetism." Infoplease. Infoplease, Nov.-Dec. 2013. Web. 01 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/magnetism.html>.
"Magnetism (physics)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/357334/magnetism>.
"Magnetism & Electromagnetism - ------ GCE Study Buddy ------ The Best O Level Revision Resource."
Magnetism & Electromagnetism - ------ GCE Study Buddy ------ The Best O Level Revision Resource. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2013. <https://sites.google.com/site/urbangeekclassroomsg/using-word-
documents/electricity-and-magnetism>.
"Factors Which Cause Permanent Magnets to Lose Strength or to Demagnetize." The Magnet Blog. N.p.,
Apr.-May 2012. Web. 01 Nov. 2013. <http://www.adamsmagnetic.com/blogs/2012/factors-which-cause-
permanent-magnets-to-lose-strength-or-to-demagnetize/>.
Conclusion-
According to my experiment and its data collection, I conclude that a magnet with a higher temperature will
have a higher magnetism than its identical self at a lower temperature. For instance, referring back to the data
table of the averages of the number of paperclips picked up at each temperature, at 15 Celsius the magnet picked
up five paperclips. At 25 Celsius the magnet picked up six paperclips. At 35 Celsius the magnet picked up seven
paperclips. At 45 Celsius the magnet picked up eight paperclips, and at 55 Celsius the magnet picked up eight
paperclips as well. According to my data, there was a constant increase in the magnetism of the magnet as the
temperature was raised. In conclusion, my hypothesis was wrong because I predicted that the magnets
magnetism would increase as the temperature decreased. Instead, it did the opposite, the magnetism of the
magnet increased as the temperature increased. Therefore I can say that the increasing of the magnets
magnetism is directly related to the increasing of the magnets temperature. I believe that one of my weaknesses
was that I could have tested the magnets magnetism at higher temperatures, so in other words I could have had
more temperatures to test the magnets magnetism at than just five different temperatures, I could have had ten
different temperatures instead. I think that by having done this, due to having more data to support my
conclusion, I would have also have made my experiment more reliable. Anyway, overall I believe that my
experiment can be considered reliable and exemplarary due to having multiple trials and temperatures and data
as well as haven taken place in a controlled environment letting nothing else affect my experiment otherwise.