How to Create an Electromagnet

Remove some Insulation: Some of the copper wire needs to be exposed so that the battery can make a good electrical connection. Use a pair of wire strippers to remove a few centimeters of insulation from each end of the wire.

Wrap the Wire Around the Nail. Neatly wrap the wire around the nail. The more wire you wrap around the nail, the stronger your electromagnet will be. Make certain that you leave enough of the wire unwound so that you can attach the battery. When you wrap the wire around the nail, make certain that you wrap the wire all in one direction. You need to do this because the direction of a magnet field depends on the direction of the electric current creating it. The movement of electric charges creates a magnetic field. If you could see the magnetic field around a wire that has electricity flowing through it, it would look like a series of circles around the wire. If an electric current is flowing directly towards you, the magnetic field created by it circles around the wire in a counter-clockwise direction. If the direction of the electric current is reversed, the magnetic field reverses also and circles the wire in a clockwise direction. If you wrap some of the wire around the nail in one direction and some of the wire in the other direction, the magnetic fields from the different sections fight each other and cancel out, reducing the strength of your magnet.