Splat The Rat

Bring some PHUN into your Physics lessons with this electromagnetic take on the village fete challenge of Splat the Rat. This memorable demonstration of Lenz’s Law is guaranteed to engage and amaze your students, as they marvel at the effect of Eddy currents, and the principles of magnetic braking.

Two ‘rats’ are supplied, one containing strong neodymium magnets (red) and the other just a metal weight (black). 1 m of copper tube and a foam-covered rounders bat completes the kit.

How does it work?
Hold the long copper tube against the wall, and explain that the rat will be dropped into the top of the tube, and the students task is to SPLAT the rat with the rounders bat, when it emerges from the bottom of the tube. Do this with the standard black rat a few times, to get the student used to the timing. Then, introduce the red (magnetic) rat, and repeat the process. Due to the induced Eddy currents, the red rat will take much longer to emerge from the tube, leaving the student to problem solve what is causing the delay, and opening the discussion of Lenz’s Law. This is a dramatic demonstration, as the magnetised rat takes about 5 seconds to exit the tube.

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