Magnet Academy: Oersted's Compass 1820

Recreate the discovery by Hans Christian Oersted about the relationship between electricity and magnetism in this very simple experiment.

Named in honor of Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted, Denmark's first satellite has been observing and mapping the magnetic field of the Earth.

Spurred by Hans Christian Orsted's discovery of a relationship between electricity and magnetism, German chemist Julian Schweigger immediately began tinkering and soon came up with a very early galvanometer known as the Schweigger...

Learn how to make a simple compass right at home. [1 min, 21 secs]

Experiment with the compass in this tutorial to see how it responds to magnetic fields.

A discovery by Hans Christian Orsted forever changed the way scientists think about electricity and magnetism. While preparing to perform an experiment during a lecture at the University of Copenhagen, he found that the magnetized needle...

Hans Christian Orsted's accidental discovery that an electrical current moves a compass needle rocks the scientific world; a spate of experiments follows, immediately leading to the first electromagnet and electric motor.

Find out how humans discovered the magnetic lodestone as well as the attracting properties of amber. Advanced societies, in particular the Chinese and the Europeans, exploited the properties of magnets in compasses, a tool that makes...

A pair of parallel wires serves to illustrate a principle that French Scientist Andre-Marie Ampere was the first to comprehend, back in 1820. (Java tutorial)

Can you use a magnet as a compass? How can you find North vs. South pole?