Jumping Wire

A current-carrying wire interacts with an external magnetic field. The direction of the force is perpendicular to both the current and the magnetic field. The battery is a 12 Volt gel cell. The wires have a total resistance of about 0.1 Ohms. The magnetic field is about 0.3 Tesla between the poles, with the red and green tape indicating north and south, respectively.

For more details about our setup, see https://sciencedemonstrations.fas.harvard.edu/presentations/jumping-wire