You can create a stronger, more concentrated magnetic field by taking wire and forming it into a coil called a solenoid. (Java tutorial)

A handful of iron filings helps visualize the invisible magnetic field that circulates around a wire with a current running through it. (Java tutorial)

Whenever current travels through a conductor, a magnetic field is generated. (Java tutorial)

Experiment with the compass in this tutorial to see how it responds to magnetic fields.

This site from NASA provides a short, illustrated description of the basics of magnetic fields and magnetic poles.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Discusses what a magnetic field reversal is and the evidence that this has happened with the Earth.

Get information about rotating magnetic fields and how electric machines use them for their operation. Discusses synchronous speed and number of poles on an electrical machine. The accompanying article discusses the topics found in the...

When a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the flow of current, the field causes resistance in the current. This is the Lorentz force at work, and can be observed well in the Hall effect. (Java tutorial)

Students use iron filings to explore the magnetic field around a magnet and record their observations then apply their experience with the magnet to understand the magnetic field around Earth.

Physicists sometimes study matter under extreme conditions. For example, think of the emptiness of interstellar space vs. the unimaginable crush of pressure at the center of a neutron star, or an object dipped in liquid nitrogen vs. the...

Create a magnetic field that is stronger than Earth so a compass needle will orient itself to the new field in this activity.

Think iron, nickel and other "ferromagnetic" substances are the only ones with magnetic properties? In fact, everything reacts to magnetic fields in some way.

Explore the magnetic fields around different shapes of magnets.

Named in honor of Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted, Denmark's first satellite has been observing and mapping the magnetic field of the Earth.

This set of activities has middle schoolers using everyday items (batteries, magnets, compasses, iron and paper clips) to reveal the connection between electricity and magnetism. Ideally, students will already have experience building...

An interactive simulation that teaches about Faraday's Law, magnets, and magnetic fields by showing how a change in the magnetic flux can produce a flow of electricity. This simulation can either be downloaded or played online and...

This is a sample lesson on electromagnetism. It includes animated diagrams, interactive exercises, an audio option for reading the text, and comprehension questions throughout where students can type their answers or pick from...

Chemist Paul Lauterbur pioneered the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for medical imaging. He developed a technique, now known as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in the early 1970s that involves the introduction of gradients in...

Although he is best known as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, Carl Friedrich Gauss was also a pioneer in the study of magnetism and electricity. To facilitate an extensive survey of terrestrial magnetism, he invented an...

See how electricity and magnetism interact with this activity. Activity has students creating a current by swinging a copper coil through a magnetic field. The copper coil will start a second coil swinging as well.

From ABC News in Science, this article, "Sun's magnetic field twisted and tangled," discusses images taken of "plumes of gas" which are rising from the sun's corona.

This site describes and demonstrates a number of important concepts related to direct current circuits. Information on many of the featured topics, such as the use of Ohm's law and Kirchhoff's laws. Examples of featured topics include...

Electromotive Force (EMF) and its sidekick, back EMF, are interesting electromagnetic phenomena that aren't really forces at all. (Java tutorial)

Leon Foucault, a French physicist much better known for his pendulum demonstrating the rotation of the Earth, also created in 1855 a device that illustrated how eddy currents work. (Java tutorial)