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  • Magnetic Linear Accelerator

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    Summer Vasquez
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    This document describes a magnetic linear accelerator that can launch steel balls down a wooden ruler at a target. A series of magnets placed along the ruler attract and propel steel balls between them, transferring the energy from one ball to the next down the line. The last ball is launched at high speed toward the target due to the accumulated energy transferred from the magnets and previous balls. The document provides instructions for building this simple magnetic accelerator using common materials to demonstrate energy conservation through a chain reaction as the balls are launched sequentially.

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    This document describes a magnetic linear accelerator that can launch steel balls down a wooden ruler at a target. A series of magnets placed along the ruler attract and propel steel balls between them, transferring the energy from one ball to the next down the line. The last ball is launched at high speed toward the target due to the accumulated energy transferred from the magnets and previous balls. The document provides instructions for building this simple magnetic accelerator using common materials to demonstrate energy conservation through a chain reaction as the balls are launched sequentially.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    51 views6 pages

    Magnetic Linear Accelerator

    Uploaded by

    Summer Vasquez
    This document describes a magnetic linear accelerator that can launch steel balls down a wooden ruler at a target. A series of magnets placed along the ruler attract and propel steel balls between them, transferring the energy from one ball to the next down the line. The last ball is launched at high speed toward the target due to the accumulated energy transferred from the magnets and previous balls. The document provides instructions for building this simple magnetic accelerator using common materials to demonstrate energy conservation through a chain reaction as the balls are launched sequentially.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 6

    Magnetic Linear Accelerator

    Have you ever seen one of those roller coasters that shoots out of the station at an insanely high speed? These roller coasters dont need to climb hills first to use gravitational potential energytheir power comes from magnetism and energy conservation. A series of electromagnets (magnets made by pumping electrical current through coils of wire) alternately push and pull on the rollercoaster, pumping up its speed pretty quickly. Some engineers have imagined using the same idea to launch objects into space (from, say, a base on the Moon) without using rockets. In this project, youre going to build a very simple magnetic accelerator to launch steel balls at targets. What could possibly go wrong?

    In this project, youre going to build a very simple magnetic accelerator to launch steel balls at targets. What could possibly go wrong?

    Problem: Build a simple magnetic linear accelerator.


    Materials

    Wooden ruler with groove along the middle Four small, powerful magnets (e.g., neodymium magnets) Nine steel balls, roughly 5/8 in diameter Tape Hobby knife Safety Goggles

    Procedure
    1. Place the ruler (flat side down) on a table.

    2. Lay one magnet in the ruler groove, about 2.5 from the rulers end. Use the tape to secure the magnet to the ruler and the knife to trim the tape to the size of the magnet.

    3. Repeat step 2 with each of the remaining three magnets, placing each about 2.5 away from the preceding magnet. 4. To the right side of each magnet, place two steel balls in the groove.

    5. Place a target a few inches to the right of the ruler. Your tape dispenser will work fine.

    6.

    Place the ninth ball in the groove on the far left end of the ruler (opposite the target).

    7.

    Put your safety goggles on.

    8. Let the ball go and stand back!

    Results

    The ball will be attracted to the first magnet and set off a chain reaction of balls firing between the magnets until the last one flies off the ruler at high speed to strike its target.

    Why?
    What you just saw is a fantastic example of energy conservation. Energy from one ball gets transferred to the next, and then to the next, and so on. But where is all the energy in the last ball coming from if the first ball starts off from rest? The answer is in the magnets.

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