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Class 6 Science — Exploring magnets

Sort materials into magnetic and non-magnetic, find the poles of a magnet, and work out what happens when two magnets are brought together.

Name: ________________________

  1. 1.A bar magnet is snapped cleanly in half. What do you have afterwards?

    • a) Two smaller magnets, each with a North and a South pole
    • b) Two pieces of plain iron carrying no poles
    • c) One magnet and one non-magnetic piece
    • d) One piece with a North pole and one piece with a South pole

  2. 2.A magnet has two of these, and the chapter calls one of them North and the other South. What is the word for them?

  3. 3.Two magnets are brought close, pole to pole. Sort each pairing by what it does.

    Groups: Attract · Repel

    • Two unlike poles, South facing North
    • Two unlike poles, North facing South
    • Two like poles, South facing South
    • Two like poles, North facing North

  4. 4.Which single test tells a magnet apart from a plain iron bar?

    • a) See whether it is heavier than the known magnet
    • b) See whether one pole of a known magnet pushes it away
    • c) See whether it sticks to a wooden table
    • d) See whether a known magnet pulls it towards itself

  5. 5.A magnet hangs from a thread and is free to turn. It settles along a line joining which two directions? Answer with both, joined by a hyphen.

  6. 6.Iron filings are scattered under this bar magnet. Tap the part where the fewest of them would stick.

    Write the number of the part.

    123

  7. 7.Which of these is a shape the chapter names for a magnet?

    • a) A cone magnet
    • b) A ring magnet
    • c) A spiral magnet
    • d) A cube magnet

  8. 8.Match each term to what it means.

    • Non-magnetic material
    • Magnetic material
    • Magnetic compass
    • points along north-south
    • drawn towards a magnet
    • left alone by a magnet

Answer key — Class 6 Science — Exploring magnets

  1. 1. a) Two smaller magnets, each with a North and a South pole
  2. 2.
    • poles
    • pole
  3. 3. Two like poles, North facing North → Repel; Two like poles, South facing South → Repel; Two unlike poles, North facing South → Attract; Two unlike poles, South facing North → Attract
  4. 4. b) See whether one pole of a known magnet pushes it away
  5. 5.
    • north-south
    • south-north
  6. 6. 2 — The middle
  7. 7. b) A ring magnet
  8. 8. Non-magnetic material → left alone by a magnet; Magnetic material → drawn towards a magnet; Magnetic compass → points along north-south