Magnetic Field Experiments

This video, at the 40 seconds mark shows the magnetic field of the earth.  It also shows the simulation of  impressive gravitational assist maneuvers of a spacecraft that is scheduled to launch in 2017.

I have had students use the Vernier magnetic field sensor and the rotary motion sensor to examine the Earth's magnetic field at their location. When magnetic field versus angle is graphed, the data is sinusoidal. Variations of this lab available in lab books can be previewed on Vernier's website.

You can see images of the Slinky lab, or magnetic field in a solenoid, at this blog post. We updated the instructions that you can preview on Vernier's website. They are written for the TI-Nspire's Vernier DataQuest on our class website: View Download.