1. DOES THE THICKNESS OF A NON-FERROUS MATERIAL AFFECT THE PENDULUM SPEED SWINGING BETWEEN TWO MAGNETS, IF SO, HOW MUCH? Joseph Turley

2. INTRODUCTION While approaching the magnet While moving away from the magnet Eddy currents are created when a conducting material is moved through a magnetic field. These eddy currents create a force that constantly opposes the motion of the object. This slows down the object moving through the magnetic field. Movement of material Eddy current

3. HYPOTHESIS I believe that the thickness of the material will affect the change in motion. This stems from the belief that the more material there is, the more magnetic force that can be generated from the material and its induced current.

4. EXPERIMENTAL PROCESS Two ring stands Two magnets Four Clamps One photogate One Vernier LabQuest2 One.0508m by.0508m square of foamboard One string Ten 0.1016m by.0508m rectangles of Heavy Duty aluminum foil (24µm thickness) One steel rod

5. EXPERIMENTAL PROCESS Attach the pendulum to the ring stand where it can pivot freely. Attach the foam board to the string. Affix the magnets and the photogate to where they are consecutive. Then swing the pendulum through the magnet-photogate combo 4 times from a consistent height. Repeat previous step after wrapping the square in a layer of aluminum foil. Continue until all of the aluminum foil has been used.

6. RESULTS

7. CONCLUSION The average velocity dropped from 52.250 cm/s to 39.500 cm/s. This shows the electromagnetic induction did have an effect on the pendulum’s motion. The thickness of the aluminum did effect how much effect the induction had on the pendulum. For each layer of aluminum, the velocity dropped, on average, 1.2 cm/s.