How to Make Floating Square Magnets

In 1878, Alfred Mayer, an American physicist set out to learn more about the natural forms of atomic and molecular structures. He performed an experiment with a collection of magnets in a container of water that formed specific shapes when the polar opposite side of a larger magnet was used to manipulate them. The shape that the magnets took varied depending upon the number of magnets used in the experiment. One such shape was a square surrounding a singular magnet.

Things You'll Need

• Bowl of water
• 5 magnetic pins or needles
• 5 small pieces of cork
• Compass
• Large, flat magnet

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Instructions

1. • 1

     Find the south end of each magnetic pin or needle by holding a compass to the pin. If the compass points south, you have found the south end.

   • 2

     Push the south pole of the magnet through the cork so just a small amount of the tip is pointing through the opposite side. The tip of each point that pokes through the cork should measure the same length as the others.

   • 3

     Drop the magnetized corks into the bowl of water, with the long end of the magnet submerged in the water.

   • 4

     Find the north end of the large, flat magnet with the compass. If the compass points north, you have found the north end.

   • 5

     Hold the large magnet over the bowl of water, and watch as the floating magnets begin to move. After a few moments, four of the magnets will make a perfect square, with the fifth magnet bobbing directly in the center of the square.