Learn about the direction of magnetic force with a very attractive interactive! Young physicists move a positively charged object around a negatively charged Van de Graaff generator and observe the direction of the forces present. A handy tool also allows users to observe the path the draggable object takes using force arrows.

Concepts

negative charges, positive charges, force diagrams, electric charge

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Ask learners to sketch the generator and draggable object and predict the direction of the forces, then compare their sketches to the interactive
• Have younger students describe why the charged objects in the resource behave the way they do to test their understanding of magnetism
• Turn on the force pointers tool so pupils can see the direction change as the positively charged object moves around the generator
  

Classroom Considerations

• The resource is written for a beginner's level in terms of knowledge of direction of force

Pros

• Users can examine the direction of force on each part of the simulation independently
• The interactive is easy to use and operates well
  

Cons

• None