The best examples of creating an electromagnet: 3 easy examples you can actually build

Let’s jump straight into the fun part: three of the best examples of creating an electromagnet that you can actually build. No lab, no fancy tools—just basic supplies. These are the core 3 easy examples we’ll keep coming back to as we explore how electromagnets show up in the real world.

Example 1: The classic nail electromagnet (your first working magnet)

If someone asks for the simplest example of creating an electromagnet, this is it: a nail, some wire, and a battery.

What you’ll need (typical classroom setup):

• 1 iron nail, about 2–3 inches long (steel works, but soft iron is better)
• About 3–6 feet of insulated copper wire (thin hookup wire or magnet wire)
• 1 fresh AA, C, or D battery
• A handful of paper clips or small steel pins
• Electrical tape or masking tape

How to build it (step-by-step, but in plain English):

Wrap the wire neatly around the nail, leaving a few inches of wire free at each end. The tighter and closer the coils, the better. Aim for at least 20–40 turns around the nail. You’ve just made a coil, also called a solenoid, with an iron core.

Now strip the insulation from the last half-inch of each wire end. Tape one bare end to the positive terminal of the battery and the other to the negative terminal. The moment you complete the circuit, current flows through the coil, and the nail becomes an electromagnet.

Test it by touching the tip or side of the nail to paper clips. If they jump up and stick, you’ve built your first working electromagnet.

What you can try next with this example:

• Add more turns of wire and see how many paper clips you can pick up.
• Try a thicker nail vs. a thinner nail.
• Compare a fresh battery with a nearly used one.

This first project is one of the most widely used examples of creating an electromagnet: 3 easy examples in school labs because it’s so visual—more turns, more current, more lifting power.

Safety note: The wire can get warm. Don’t leave it connected for more than 30–60 seconds at a time, and never short a battery directly with very thick wire.

Example 2: A cardboard-bolt electromagnet that can lift more weight

Once you’ve built the nail version, the next example of an electromagnet is a slightly stronger, more organized build using a bolt and a cardboard tube.

Materials:

• 1 large iron bolt (about 3–4 inches long)
• A cardboard tube (like from paper towels), cut to the bolt’s length
• 10–20 feet of insulated copper wire (magnet wire is ideal)
• 1 or 2 D batteries, or a low-voltage DC power supply (3–6 V)
• Electrical tape
• Small metal objects to lift: washers, nuts, paper clips, small nails

How to build it:

Slide the bolt into the cardboard tube. Tape the tube to hold the bolt in place. Now start winding the wire around the tube, covering as much of its length as you can with neat, tight coils. Go back and forth in layers until you’ve used most of the wire.

Strip the ends of the wire. Connect them to the battery or power supply, just as you did with the nail electromagnet. You’ve now created a stronger electromagnet with more turns and a larger iron core.

Set a small metal object on the table and bring the tip of the bolt close to it. You’ll notice this example can often lift heavier items than the nail electromagnet.

Why this example is useful:

• It shows how increasing the number of turns increases the magnetic field.
• It’s closer to real-world electromagnets used in door locks and relays.
• You can experiment with different power sources (for example, a 3 V vs. 6 V supply) and see how current changes the strength.

Teachers often use this as one of their best examples of creating an electromagnet because the structure is sturdy and easy to pass around a classroom.

Example 3: A switchable electromagnet with a simple on/off control

For the third of our 3 easy examples, let’s add a basic control feature: a switch. This gives you a very clear sense that electromagnets only work when current flows.

You’ll reuse:

• Either the nail electromagnet or the bolt electromagnet from above

You’ll add:

• 1 simple switch (a toggle switch, push button, or even a paperclip-on-brad “homemade” switch)
• Extra wire if needed

How to set it up:

Instead of connecting your electromagnet directly to the battery, run one wire from the battery to the switch, and another wire from the switch to the electromagnet. The other end of the electromagnet goes back to the battery.

Now you can flip the switch to turn the electromagnet on and off. Try lifting a paper clip, then turning the switch off and watching it fall. This is one of the clearest examples of creating an electromagnet: 3 easy examples that shows how electricity controls magnetism.

This switchable version is a stepping stone to real devices like:

• Doorbells and buzzers
• Electric locks
• Relays inside cars and appliances

More real examples: how these simple builds show up in everyday tech

So far, we’ve focused on 3 easy examples of creating an electromagnet you can build on a table. But those same principles power a lot of technology around you. Here are several real examples that connect directly back to your experiments:

1. Doorbells and buzzers
Modern doorbells often use an electromagnet to pull a metal striker that hits a chime. The coil and iron core look a lot like your bolt electromagnet, just in a compact housing.

2. Relays in cars and appliances
A relay is basically your switchable electromagnet example turned into a compact component. When current flows through the coil, it pulls a metal arm and closes another circuit. This allows a small current to control a much larger one. You can read more about how electromagnets are used in electric motors and devices in resources from the U.S. Department of Energy: https://www.energy.gov

3. Junkyard cranes
Those huge cranes that pick up cars use the same idea as your bolt electromagnet—just scaled up with massive coils and powerful current. When the operator switches the current off, the car drops.

4. Speakers and headphones
Inside a speaker, a coil of wire sits in a magnetic field. When current changes in the coil, it moves, pushing on a cone and creating sound. This is a more advanced example of an electromagnet at work, but the same principle applies: current in a coil produces force.

5. MRI machines in hospitals
At the high-tech end, MRI scanners use superconducting electromagnets to generate extremely strong magnetic fields. The National Institutes of Health has clear explanations of MRI and magnetism: https://www.nibib.nih.gov/science-education/science-topics/magnetic-resonance-imaging-mri

6. Hard drives and magnetic storage
Older hard drives and some modern storage technologies use tiny electromagnets to flip the magnetic orientation of microscopic regions on a disk. Your nail electromagnet is the same physics, just on a much larger scale.

These examples include everything from home doorbells to medical imaging. The three small projects you built are not toys—they’re scaled-down versions of serious technology.

How to make your 3 easy examples of creating an electromagnet stronger

Once you’ve built the three core experiments, the natural next step is to ask: how do I make them stronger, safer, and more interesting?

Here are the main variables you can tweak, using your existing examples of creating an electromagnet: 3 easy examples as a test bed:

1. Number of turns
More turns of wire around the core generally means a stronger magnetic field, as long as your power source can handle it. Take your nail electromagnet and double the number of turns. Count how many paper clips you can lift before and after.

2. Current through the wire
A higher current usually strengthens the electromagnet, but it also heats the wire and drains batteries faster. Moving from a AA to a D cell battery often gives a noticeable boost. For more advanced setups, a low-voltage DC power supply with a current limit is ideal.

3. Type of core material
Soft iron cores make some of the best examples of strong electromagnets because they magnetize and demagnetize easily. Steel may stay magnetized longer (like a permanent magnet), but it’s not always ideal if you want the magnet to turn fully off.

4. Shape of the core
Experiment with different shapes: a U-shaped core (bent iron bar) creates a horseshoe-style electromagnet that can grab objects between its poles more effectively.

These tweaks turn your original examples of creating an electromagnet: 3 easy examples into a small research project. You can measure lifting power, distance at which a paper clip jumps, or even deflection of a compass needle.

If you want a more formal background on how current and magnetic fields relate, many high school and college physics departments, like MIT’s OpenCourseWare, offer free explanations: https://ocw.mit.edu

2024–2025 classroom trends: electromagnets and STEM projects

In recent years, especially heading into 2024–2025, teachers and makers have been blending these examples of creating an electromagnet with coding and electronics. A few trends you’ll see:

• Microcontroller control: Students connect their electromagnets to Arduino or micro:bit boards, using code to turn them on and off or vary the strength with pulse-width modulation (PWM).
• Energy efficiency focus: With more attention on energy use and battery life, projects often compare how long different batteries can power a given electromagnet.
• Interdisciplinary projects: Electromagnet builds are being tied into robotics units, where the magnet acts as a gripper to pick up metal parts.

Your 3 basic examples are perfect building blocks for these newer projects. Add a microcontroller instead of a manual switch, and you’ve stepped into the world of programmable electromagnets.

Simple safety guidelines for electromagnet experiments

Even though these are low-voltage examples of creating an electromagnet: 3 easy examples, a few safety habits are worth building early:

• Don’t leave wires connected to a battery for long periods; they can overheat.
• Avoid using wall outlets directly—stick to batteries or properly rated low-voltage supplies.
• If wires or batteries feel hot, disconnect and let them cool.

For general electrical safety principles, you can look at resources from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission: https://www.cpsc.gov

FAQ: common questions about examples of creating an electromagnet

Q1: What are some simple examples of creating an electromagnet at home?
Some of the simplest examples of creating an electromagnet at home include wrapping insulated wire around an iron nail and connecting it to a battery, building a bolt-and-cardboard electromagnet with more turns of wire, and adding a switch so you can control when the magnet turns on and off. These are the same 3 easy examples described above, and they can all be built with basic supplies.

Q2: Which example of an electromagnet is best for beginners?
The nail electromagnet is usually the best starting example of an electromagnet. It uses very few parts and shows immediately how current creates magnetism. Once that works, you can move on to the stronger bolt electromagnet and then to the switchable version.

Q3: How do these classroom examples compare to real electromagnets in devices?
They’re based on the same physics. Real devices simply use more turns, better core materials, and controlled power supplies. For instance, the electromagnets in MRI machines or industrial cranes are basically scaled-up, carefully engineered versions of the coil-and-core setups you’ve already built.

Q4: Can I damage a battery by running an electromagnet?
You can shorten a battery’s life and sometimes make it hot if you draw too much current. Using thin wire with many turns helps limit current. If anything feels hot to the touch, disconnect it. For classroom use, many teachers prefer low-voltage bench supplies with current limits.

Q5: Are there examples of electromagnets that stay on all the time?
Yes. In industry and research, many electromagnets run for long periods, but they use proper cooling and power management. In everyday life, devices like door locks and relays may keep an electromagnet energized as long as a circuit is active. Your 3 easy examples are short-term demonstrations, but they model the same behavior.

If you can build and understand these examples of creating an electromagnet: 3 easy examples, you’ve already unlocked the core idea behind a huge range of modern technology. From here, you can scale up, automate, or specialize—but the heart of it is still a coil of wire, a core, and a source of electric current.