|
|
|
The purpose of the magnetic pendulum is to isolate magnetic attraction giving the child the repeatable experience of using a magnetic field to move an object without touching it and to observe the behavior of an object in that field after it has been released.
The particular hook used here also provides assembly if that is how you chose to present it. The energy transformation is Magnetism > Motion with the added feature that magnetic braking and levitation are diminutions of motion. Movement of an object with a magnet is Motion > Magnetism > Motion. The Banana Hook is good example of seeing everyday items for the fundamental things they are. It is a good example of the curriculum's Paradigm which is that all of our tools and devices function by transforming energy. Hang bananas on it and it will retard a chemical reaction. Hang a weight on a string and it is a pendulum, which is a regular repeating motion that can serve as a Clock. Add a magnet and it is a pendulum with a field brake, a force field capable not only of stopping the weight but of inverting and levitating it. Hang a metal chain in the field and the banana hook becomes a wave generator. That means that pulling the chain to the side from its middle point and releasing it will generate a transverse wave that will last long enough for the child to see it, name it and watch it damp out and return to equilibrium. The video is best viewed in full screen. This banana hook unscrews from the base and so with the base, hook, chains and magnet provides assembly and dis-assembly, put together/take apart, as a basic process to the goal of having the tool do what you want it too. |