Question

Apparatus: An iron nail of about 10 cm length and a 1-metre long insulated copper wire, a battery cell, pins or other magnetic objects.

Wind the copper wire around the nail as shown in the figure. Join both the ends of the wire to the cell. Now take the pins near the head of the nail. What do you see?

Answer 1

The pins are attracted to the nail and stick to it. When the copper wire is connected to the cell, electric current flows through the wire. This makes the iron nail magnetic. The nail behaves like a temporary magnet called an electromagnet.