How to make a battery train

Making a battery train

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

Warn­ing! Only un­der adult su­per­vi­sion

Equip­ment

  • bare cop­per wire;
  • recharge­able 3.2V bat­tery;
  • mark­er;
  • neodymi­um mag­nets;
  • dou­ble-sid­ed tape.

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Wind a cop­per wire around a mark­er to ob­tain a tight he­lix with a 2 cm di­am­e­ter. At­tach the neodymi­um mag­nets to the poles of the 3.2V bat­tery. Place the train in the he­lix – and it takes off! Please note: the train heats up while mov­ing through the he­lix. If the train doesn’t move, try flip­ping the mag­nets to change their poles.

Process de­scrip­tion

When the mag­nets touch the cop­per wire, an elec­tric cur­rent, cre­at­ed by the recharge­able bat­tery, starts flow­ing through the coiled wire. The cur­rent si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly gen­er­ates a mag­net­ic field, which push­es the mag­nets and the train along with them.

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