Gabriella Vasquez

March 20, 2018

Physics/Engineering 6/7
Battery Voltage Lab
Objective/Purpose: ​Taking into account the big question of how do electrical currents influence
magnetic fields, we decided to do our research on how different voltages in batteries affect the
magnetic pull between the two objects.

Background/Scope: ​An electromagnet is created with a wire coiled around a nail connected to
a battery. The nail which the wire is wrapped around is called a solenoid, and the magnetic field
radiates away from this point. ​Howstuffworks.com​ describes this as “​ Before the solenoid is
electrified, the atoms in the metal core are arranged randomly, not pointing in any particular
direction. When the current is introduced, the magnetic field penetrates the rod and realigns the
atoms. With these atoms in motion, and all in the same direction, the magnetic field grows.” ​This
metal is turned into a magnet by the passage of an electric current going through the wire.

Hypothesis: ​If the battery used to create the electromagnetic field has 1.5 volts, 3 volts, and
then 6 volts, the number of paper clips being picked up will increase as the strength of the volts
increase.

Materials:
● Rayovac Ultra Pro Battery (1.5 volts)
● 2 Alkaline Batteries (3 volts total)
● Eveready industrial General Purpose Battery (6 volts)
● 32 gauge insulated copper wire
● 3 inch galvanized nail
● Office depot paper clips
● Sandpaper
● Tape
● Scissors
Procedure:
1. Obtain red 32 gauge insulated copper wire
2. Cut insulated wire exactly 4 ½ feet long
3. Wrap insulated wire precisely 100 times around 3 inch galvanized nail leaving about 2
inch excess space on both ends
4. Use the sandpaper to strip the wire on each side (Color will turn from red to copper)
5. Select one of the three batteries above 1.5, 3, or 6, in the material list (for the 3 volt
battery, you will need to tape the 2 Alkaline batteries together)
6. Take the two sides of the excess wire and attach one to the positive side of the battery,
and one to the negative side of the battery.
7. Lay exactly 10 of the standard office depot paper clips on the table
8. Move the electromagnet into the pile of paper clips on the table
9. Measure how many paper the electromagnet can pick up before they begin to fall off
10. Record data from trials, and repeat 10 times for one battery voltage
11. Repeat steps 6-10 for each battery.

Safety tips:
● If the wire or nail is getting hot, set it down and let it cool down
● Do not short circuit the battery
● Do not ingest any materials

Trial Number 1.5 Volts 3 Volts 6 Volts

1 6 5 5

2 5 6 4

3 9 7 6

4 8 6 3

5 7 5 5

6 6 6 6

7 4 4 4

8 4 4 7

9 6 4 5

10 8 4 6

The above table is all of our data recorded. All the blue numbers are measured in paper clips,
and the different number on top are the battery voltages.
The above graph is a bar graph of all the data. The x axis is the trial numbers and the y axis is
the number of paper clips the electromagnet was able to pick up. The blue lines are from the 3
volt battery, the red lines are from the 6 volt battery, and the yellow lines are from the 1.5 volt
battery.

The above graph is like the same graph before it, but the lowest and highest variable are
removed from each battery voltage. The axis and color bars are the same as the first graph.
The above graph shows the data in another way. Each cluster of bars represents the different
battery voltages. The first cluster is 1.5 volts, the second cluster is 3 volts, and the last cluster is
6 volts. The numbers on the bars are measured in the amount of paper clips picked up by the
electromagnet.

The above graph shows the data in a line graph. The straight horizontal lines show the means
of each battery voltage. The orange line represents the 1.5 volt battery, the black line represents
the 6 volt battery, and the green line represents the 3 volt battery. The x axis is the number of
trails and the y axis is the number of paper clips picked up by the electromagnet. The mean of
the 1.5 volt battery is 6, the 3 volt battery is 5, and the 6 volt battery is 5.3 paper clips.

Analysis:
After going through our experiment and looking at all the data that we recorded, we found that
our hypothesis is incorrect. We discovered that the amount of volts the battery used to create
the electromagnet has does not affect the number of paper clips said electromagnet can pick
up. Our graphs above show that each different battery voltage can pick up a range of paper
clips, and one specific voltage was not especially better than the other ones. Human error might
have played a role in the large range of numbers, but our group decided to stop counting the
number of paper clips once they started to fall off of the electromagnet so we could minimize
errors. We could have improved this lab by using more battery voltages to see if larger or
smaller voltages were more ideal, but we based our experiment off of the supplies we were
given in class. If given more time and resources, we could possibly continue this lab to see if it
makes any changes to what we have discovered.

Conclusion:
The amount of voltage the battery for the electromagnet has does not affect the amount of
paper clips the electromagnet can pick up before they start to fall off. In the experiment, we
changed the battery voltage for the electromagnet to see how it changed the number of paper
clips it could pick up. We used three different batteries and took ten trials per battery, and
recorded all of the data on a graph shown above. As you can see in the table and graphs
above, each battery with different voltages had the same range of numbers for amount of paper
clips it could pick up. The 1.5 volt battery had a range from 4-9, the 3 volt battery had a range
from 4-7, and the 6 volt battery had a range from 3-7. Even though the 1.5 volt battery had the
highest amount of paper clips that were picked up, these ranges are so close that we cannot
claim that smaller voltages are better. All of the data shows that one particular battery voltage is
not better than the rest, which is proved with such close ranges in the number of paper clips the
electromagnet could pick up.