Electric and Magnetic Forces Science Games

In this series of games, your students will learn about the forces of attraction between charged particles and magnets, and the rules governing those forces. The Electric and Magnetic Forces learning objective — based on NGSS and state standards — delivers improved student engagement and academic performance in your classroom, as demonstrated by research.

Scroll down for a preview of this learning objective’s games and the concepts they drive home.

Concepts Covered

Electric and magnetic forces are non-contact forces, which means objects exerting these forces on each other don’t need to be touching. The two types of forces are related; a moving magnet can make electrical charges move, cause an electric current, and in turn cause magnetism.

An electric force is a force of attraction or repulsion between charged particles, which have unequal numbers of protons and electrons. More protons means there is a positive charge, and more electrons means there is a negative charge.

The electrons within a solid object can move, and if they are concentrated on one side of the object, it becomes polarized. Interactions with other objects can move electrons and cause this polarization, such as rubbing a balloon against your hair.

Objects that have the same charge, both positive or both negative, repel each other, and those with opposite charges attract each other. The magnitude of a charge is how imbalanced its protons and electrons are. The higher the magnitude and the closer together two objects are, the stronger the electric force between them.

A magnetic force is a force of attraction between magnetized materials. Magnetized objects always have both a north and a south pole, never just one or the other.

Similar to electric charges, opposite poles attract, and like poles repel. The stronger the magnets and the closer together they are, the stronger the magnetic force between them.

A preview of each game in the learning objective is found below.

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