Label the Parts of an Electromagnet

All 10 parts on the diagram

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The electromagnet 6

Iron core The iron nail the wire is wound on. It makes the magnet much stronger than the coil alone.
Coil The wire wound around the core. Each loop is one turn, and more turns make a stronger field.
Battery It drives the current through the wire.
Insulated wire Copper wire with a covering around it. It carries the current between the battery and the coil.
Current The flow of electricity around the loop. It makes the magnetic field, which goes when the current stops.
Paper clips Small metal clips the magnet picks up. Counting them shows how strong it is.

Its field 4

North pole The end the field lines leave from. Reverse the current and the two poles swap ends.
South pole The end the field lines go back into.
Magnetic field lines Lines that show which way the magnetic field points. They run through the coil and loop around outside it.
Compass Its needle turns to lie along the field. It shows which way the field points there.

How this list was compiled: Every name and fact checked on 2026-10-01, and the paper clips on 2026-10-02, a name kept only where two independent sources use it. (1) Wikipedia, Electromagnet, text only, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnet : a coil of wire, its turns wound around a magnetic core of iron; the field is made by the current and vanishes once the current is switched off; the core makes a more powerful magnet; insulated wire let many turns be wound; the right-hand rule, and the end the field lines emerge from is the north pole; a homemade electromagnet run from a battery. (2) National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Making Electromagnets (a classroom activity), https://nationalmaglab.org/magnet-academy/try-this-at-home/making-electromagnets/ : a battery, insulated copper wire, an iron nail, paper clips and a compass; the wire carries a current generated by the battery; the more coils, the stronger the field; the nail in the middle boosts it. (3) Millikan and Gale, A First Course in Physics (1913), public domain, https://archive.org/details/firstcourseinphy00millrich , sections 342 to 343: a coil with a soft-iron core is called an electromagnet; the N and the S pole of a helix are the ends where the lines of magnetic force emerge and enter; the right-hand rule; reversing the current reverses the polarity; strength depends on the turns of wire and the current; a compass needle shows the field about a current. (4) Three children's science books read by full-text search on archive.org: J. Richards, Magnetism and Magnets (1999), https://archive.org/details/magnetismmagnets0000rich (a nail electromagnet labeled insulated wire, iron nail, battery and paper clip); J. Notkin, The How and Why Wonder Book of Electricity (1987), https://archive.org/details/howwhywonderbook0000notk (turns of insulated wire wound around a large nail; more paper clips are picked up with more turns); R. Gardner, Electricity and Magnetism Science Fair Projects (2010), https://archive.org/details/electricitymagne0000gard_s1w3 (how many paper clips the electromagnet lifts). Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-01 from plain geometry; nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

An electromagnet is a coil of wire around an iron core, and it is a magnet only while a current flows. Here is the one a class builds from a nail, wire and a battery.

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The nail and the coil

The wire is wound around an iron nail, the core. Each loop is one turn, and the turns together are the coil. The two ends of the wire run to a battery, and the arrowheads show the way the current flows. While it flows, the nail is a magnet and holds the paper clips.

Its field

The second view adds the field lines. They leave the north pole, loop around outside and go back in at the south pole, and a compass needle lies along them. To draw and label the parts of an electromagnet on paper, sketch the first view and mark the two poles.

More turns in the coil make a stronger magnet.
Reverse the current and the two poles swap ends.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of an electromagnet?

A core of iron, a coil of insulated wire wound around it in many turns, and a source of current such as a battery. While the current flows, the core has a north pole at one end and a south pole at the other.

What does the iron core do in an electromagnet?

It makes the magnet much stronger. The field of the coil magnetizes the iron, and the field of the iron adds to the field of the coil. The same coil with no core is a far weaker magnet.

How do you make an electromagnet stronger?

With more turns of wire on the core, or a larger current through the coil. The strength depends on the number of turns multiplied by the current.

Which end of an electromagnet is the north pole?

The end the field lines leave from. Curl the fingers of your right hand around the coil the way the current flows, and your thumb points to the north pole.

What is the difference between a magnet and an electromagnet?

A permanent magnet keeps its field with no power. An electromagnet is a magnet only while a current flows, and its field goes when the current is switched off.