Have fun with magnets in this Mini Miss experiment.

What to do:

1. Place the 2 chairs side by side, approximately 50cm apart.
2. Lay the broom or mop handle across the seat of both chairs. The gap between the 2 chairs will be your testing zone.
   
3. Tie the string around the magnet. If your magnet is not horseshoe shaped you may have to stick the string in place with the sticky tape.
4. Place your magnet on the floor in the testing zone and put the other end of the string over the broom handle.
5. Get your friend to hold the loose end of the string and pull downwards so that the magnet lifts up.
6. You choose an object that you think is magnetic and place it in the testing zone directly below the magnet.
7. Get your friend to slowly lower the magnet. If your object sticks to the magnet then it is magnetic and you get a point. If it doesn't stick then it's non-magnetic and you don't get any points. Move this object out of the testing zone - it is now out of play.
8. Swap places with your friend. It's now their turn to choose an object and yours to lower the magnet.
9. Keep on going until you've tested all the objects. The person with the most points at the end wins.

This experiment is all about magnetism and why some objects stick to magnets and others don't. Magnetism itself is actually quite mysterious and scientists are still looking into how it works. But, basically, objects have tiny mini magnets inside them, called domains. When these mini magnets all face the same way this means that all their tiny effects add together and the whole object becomes magnetic.

Some objects have mini magnets which are really easy to make face the same way and it's these objects which are magnetic. Non-magnetic objects have mini magnets which are difficult to make face the same way and so these objects don't stick to magnets.