Floating Rings Science Set with Platform

Introduction

This page contains complete, bilingual online instructions for building a floating rings tower, turning it into a magnetic spring scale, and using both for science experiments. All information is based on the materials that come in the MiniScience Floating Rings Science Set with Platform. If you don't have this kit, you can order one online.

Like poles of magnets repel each other. In the first part of this project you slide six ring magnets over a wooden dowel with like poles facing each other, so the rings float one above the other. In the second part you add a clear tube and a tray on top of the rings and build a scale that weighs small objects.

With this project students can explore:

• Magnetic poles, magnetic repulsion and magnetic levitation.
• How weight and magnetic force balance each other.
• Why the rings need a guide rod.
• How the pushing force between magnets changes with distance.
• How a spring scale works and how to calibrate it.

Other models

KITFR Colored magnets KITFRB Black magnets KITFRSG Student grade, colored magnets

Compare all floating rings kits

Items Needed

Before starting, verify the content of your kit against the list below.

Antes de comenzar, verifica el contenido de tu kit con la siguiente lista.

• Wooden base with a pre-drilled hole
• Wooden dowel
• 6 black ceramic ring magnets
• Clear plastic test tube with cap
• Clear plastic petri dish (used as the tray)

For the magnetic spring scale and the experiment you will also need:

• Craft stick (popsicle stick) (not included)
• Strip of colored paper or thin card (not included)
• Clear tape and double-sided tape (not included)
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks, to build the platform (not included)
• White glue or wood glue (not included)
• 30 identical coins, such as US pennies (not included)
• Scissors, fine-tip marker and a ruler with millimeter marks (not included)

Kit content may be different from the images shown on this page.

El contenido del kit puede ser diferente de las imágenes que se muestran en esta página.

A Science Fair Project

The Floating Rings Science Set with Platform may be used for a science project, technology project, display project, or an engineering project for your science fair. Your completed project will also be an educational tool for yourself and your classmates who need to understand magnetic forces, magnetic levitation, equilibrium of forces and how a spring scale works.

El Floating Rings Science Set with Platform puede usarse para un proyecto científico, tecnológico, de exhibición o de ingeniería para tu feria de ciencias. Tu proyecto terminado también será una herramienta educativa para ti y tus compañeros que necesiten comprender las fuerzas magnéticas, la levitación magnética, el equilibrio de fuerzas y cómo funciona una báscula de resorte.

Safety Information

• Ceramic magnets are brittle. Do not let them snap together: they can chip or crack, and the chips can be sharp.
• Keep the magnets away from phones, computers, credit cards and other electronic devices.
• Keep the magnets away from anyone with a pacemaker or another medical implant.
• Never put magnets or coins in your mouth.
• Avoid touching the tip of the glue gun and the hot glue.

• Los imanes cerámicos son frágiles. No dejes que se peguen de golpe: pueden astillarse o romperse, y las astillas pueden cortar.
• Mantén los imanes lejos de teléfonos, computadoras, tarjetas de crédito y otros aparatos electrónicos.
• Mantén los imanes lejos de cualquier persona con marcapasos u otro implante médico.
• Nunca te metas imanes ni monedas en la boca.
• No toques la punta de la pistola de silicón ni el silicón caliente.

Adult supervision is required when using the glue gun.

Se requiere la supervisión de un adulto al usar la pistola de silicón.

Assembly Procedure

Part 1 — Build the floating rings

Step 1 — Mount the dowel. Push one end of the wooden dowel into the hole in the base until it stands straight up. If the dowel is loose, put a few drops of white glue or wood glue in the hole, insert the dowel, and wait a few hours until the glue is fully dry.

Step 2 — Place the first magnet. Slide one ring magnet over the dowel and let it go down until it rests on the base.

Step 3 — Find the repelling side. Take a second magnet and hold it firmly just above the first one. If you feel the magnets pulling toward each other, turn the magnet over. When you feel them pushing each other away, like poles are facing each other.

Step 4 — Make the second magnet float. Keeping the magnet turned the same way, slide it over the dowel and gently let it go. Instead of dropping onto the first magnet, it floats above it.

Step 5 — Add the other magnets and test the tower. Repeat steps 3 and 4 with the remaining four magnets, one at a time. Always test before letting go: if a magnet is pulled down, lift it off, turn it over and try again. When all six rings float, push the top magnet down gently. How much force do you need to push all the magnets together? Now release it. What happens? Why?

If you push the rings down and let go quickly, the top ring can jump off the dowel. Keep your face away from the top of the dowel.

Si empujas los anillos hacia abajo y los sueltas de golpe, el anillo de arriba puede salir disparado de la varilla. Mantén la cara lejos de la punta de la varilla.

Part 2 — Build the magnetic spring scale

The floating rings behave like a spring: the more weight you put on the top ring, the more the rings squeeze together. A magnetic spring scale uses this to measure weight. First you build a platform: a tray (the petri dish) glued on top of the test tube.

Los anillos flotantes se comportan como un resorte: cuanto más peso pones sobre el anillo de arriba, más se juntan los anillos. Una báscula magnética de resorte aprovecha esto para medir el peso. Primero construyes una plataforma: una bandeja (la caja Petri) pegada encima del tubo de ensayo.

Read steps 6 to 8 before you start: hot glue cools in a few seconds. Adult supervision is required when using the glue gun.

Lee los pasos 6 a 8 antes de empezar: el silicón caliente se enfría en pocos segundos. Se requiere la supervisión de un adulto al usar la pistola de silicón.

Step 6 — Glue the green cap to the round end of the tube. The closed end of the test tube is round, so it cannot hold the tray. Turn the green cap upside down and put the round end of the tube inside it. Apply hot glue all around the joint where the tube meets the cap, and hold the tube straight until the glue cools. The top of the cap now gives the tube a flat end.

Step 7 — Put hot glue on the green cap. Mark the center of the petri dish first (see step 8), so it is ready. Then turn the tube over so the green cap is on top, and put a generous drop of hot glue in the middle of the flat surface of the cap.

Step 8 — Find the center of the petri dish and glue the cap to it. To find the center, measure the diameter of the petri dish with a ruler, across its widest part, and make a small mark on the bottom at half that distance. Turn the dish a quarter turn and repeat: the center is where the two marks cross. Press the glued cap onto the center mark on the bottom of the dish, and hold the tube straight, at a right angle to the dish, until the glue cools. Your platform is ready.

Step 9 — Place the platform on the rings. Slide the open end of the tube over the dowel until the tube rests on the top magnet. The dowel guides the tube, so the platform can only move up and down. Check that the top of the dowel never touches the inside end of the tube, even when you press the platform down.

Step 10 — Make the pointer. Cut a strip of colored paper about 1 cm (3/8") wide. Wrap one end around the tube and tape it in place, then cut the free end into an arrow that points to the side.

Step 11 — Mount the scale stick. Glue a craft stick upright on the base, next to the tube, so that the tip of the arrow almost touches it. Let the glue dry before continuing.

Step 12 — Calibrate the scale. With the tray empty, tap the dowel gently and mark the stick at the tip of the arrow: this is zero. Put 5 identical coins on the tray, wait for the tray to stop moving and mark the new position. Keep adding 5 coins at a time and mark each position. A US penny made after 1982 has a mass of 2.5 g, so every 5 pennies add 12.5 g. With other coins, weigh 10 of them on a kitchen scale and divide by 10. Now place a small, light object on the empty tray and read its mass from your marks.

The marks will not be evenly spaced. This is not a mistake: the closer the magnets get, the harder they push back, so each new group of coins moves the tray a little less.

Las marcas no quedarán a la misma distancia unas de otras. No es un error: cuanto más se acercan los imanes, con más fuerza empujan, así que cada nuevo grupo de monedas hace bajar la bandeja un poco menos.

What Is Happening?

Every ring magnet has a north pole on one flat face and a south pole on the other flat face. When two magnets are placed with the same poles facing each other, they push each other away. This pushing force is called magnetic repulsion.

Each floating ring is pulled down by gravity and pushed up by the magnet below it, and it stops where these forces are balanced. The lower magnets hold up the weight of all the rings above them, so the gaps get smaller toward the bottom. When you put weight on the tray, every gap gets smaller, and the tray goes down. The heavier the load, the farther it goes down.

Troubleshooting

• A magnet sticks to the one below instead of floating. It is upside down. Lift it off the dowel, turn it over and slide it down again.
• The rings or the tube get stuck on the dowel. Make sure the dowel stands straight up. Tap the dowel gently to help them settle.
• The tray tilts or the tube leans. Center the petri dish on the tube and place the load in the middle of the tray.
• The tray does not go down when you add weight. The top of the dowel may be touching the inside end of the tube. Check step 9.
• The same load gives different readings. Tap the dowel gently before each reading so friction does not hold the rings, and read the arrow at eye level.
• Two magnets snapped together and are hard to separate. Take them off the dowel together, then slide one magnet sideways off the other instead of pulling them straight apart.

• Un imán se pega al de abajo en lugar de flotar. Está al revés. Sácalo de la varilla, dale la vuelta y vuelve a bajarlo.
• Los anillos o el tubo se atascan en la varilla. Asegúrate de que la varilla esté bien derecha. Dale unos golpecitos suaves a la varilla para que se acomoden.
• La bandeja se inclina o el tubo se ladea. Centra la caja Petri sobre el tubo y coloca la carga en el centro de la bandeja.
• La bandeja no baja cuando agregas peso. Es posible que la punta de la varilla esté tocando el fondo interior del tubo. Revisa el paso 9.
• La misma carga da lecturas distintas. Dale unos golpecitos suaves a la varilla antes de cada lectura para que la fricción no frene los anillos, y lee la flecha a la altura de los ojos.
• Dos imanes se pegaron y cuesta separarlos. Sácalos juntos de la varilla y luego desliza un imán hacia un lado sobre el otro, en lugar de jalarlos en línea recta.

Science Project

Research question: Does the magnetic spring scale move the same distance every time the same amount of weight is added to the tray?

Sample hypothesis 1: I hypothesize that the tray moves down the same distance for every 5 coins added, like a regular spring.

Sample hypothesis 2: I hypothesize that each group of 5 coins moves the tray down less than the one before, because the magnets push much harder as they get closer.

Experiment (Observation and Reporting)

1. Build the magnetic spring scale (steps 1 to 11). Instead of marking the craft stick, tape a ruler upright next to the tube, or measure from the zero mark with a ruler.
2. With the tray empty, tap the dowel gently and write down the position of the arrow. This is the zero position.
3. Add 5 identical coins to the center of the tray. Tap the dowel, wait for the tray to stop moving and measure how far the arrow has moved down from zero, in millimeters.
4. Keep adding 5 coins at a time, up to 30 coins, and measure the drop after each addition.
5. Remove all the coins and repeat the whole series two more times. Use the average of the three series.
6. Use the same coins, the same tray and the same starting position in every series, so the only thing that changes is the mass on the tray.

Record your readings in the table below:

Anota tus mediciones en la siguiente tabla:

Sample data table, using US pennies of 2.5 g each (Values are not real):

Analysis and Reporting

Review the last column of your data table. Did every group of 5 coins move the tray the same distance, or did the drop get smaller as the load increased? Compare your results with your hypothesis and explain them: as the gaps shrink, the magnets push back much harder, so the scale becomes stiffer. Discuss what this means for reading the scale, and why its marks must be calibrated one by one. Also discuss the other factors that could have affected your results, such as friction between the rings and the dowel, a tray that is not centered, coins that are not exactly the same mass, and reading the arrow from different angles.

Revisa la última columna de tu tabla de datos. ¿Cada grupo de 5 monedas hizo bajar la bandeja la misma distancia, o el descenso fue cada vez menor al aumentar la carga? Compara tus resultados con tu hipótesis y explícalos: a medida que los espacios se reducen, los imanes empujan con mucha más fuerza, así que la báscula se vuelve más rígida. Comenta qué significa esto al leer la báscula y por qué sus marcas deben calibrarse una por una. Comenta también otros factores que pudieron influir en tus resultados, como la fricción entre los anillos y la varilla, una bandeja que no está centrada, monedas que no tienen exactamente la misma masa y leer la flecha desde ángulos distintos.