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The National MagLab is funded by the National Science Foundation and the State of Florida.

Interactive Tutorials

These demonstrations about laws and tools associated with electricity and magnetism allow you to adjust variables at and to visualize invisible forces — which makes them almost better than the real thing.

Alternating Current

Every time you plug something into the electricity in your house, you are utilizing the power of alternating current (AC.)

Capacitor

A capacitor is similar to a battery, but a few key differences make them crucial additions to many machines.

Compasses in Magnetic Fields

The invention of the magnetic compass radically changed the way humans navigated from place to place. Travelers could orient themselves even when the …

DC Motor

This simple direct current (DC) motor has been created by pairing a permanent magnet and an electromagnet. The permanent magnet is called a stator bec…

Electromagnetic Induction

When a permanent magnet is moved inside of a copper wire coil, electrical current flows inside of the wire. This important physics phenomenon is calle…

Heat Resistance

Metals conduct electricity because their atoms have free electrons that can move between them. As those free electrons move through the metal conducto…

Magnetic Domains

Why can some materials be turned into magnets? It’s all thanks to magnetic domains.

Magnetic Field Around a Wire, I

Whenever current travels through a conductor, a magnetic field is generated.

Magnetic Field of a Solenoid

One can create a stronger, more concentrated magnetic field by taking wire and forming it into a cylindrical coil, called a solenoid.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines, commonly known as MRIs, are awesome diagnostic tools for medical applications and research. Relying on strong sup…

Mass Spectrometer (Dual Sector)

Mass spectrometers are instruments that give scientists insight into the composition of complex materials. These spectrometers can analyze materials a…

Mass Spectrometer (Single Sector)

Mass spectrometers are instruments that give scientists information on the composition of a material. Mass spectrometers can pick apart complex substa…

Ørsted's Compass

In 1820, Hans Christian Ørsted discovered the relationship between electricity and magnetism in this very simple experiment.

Van de Graaff Generator

The Van de Graaff generator is a popular tool for teaching the principles of electrostatics. You might remember it as the thing that made your hair st…