Schematic illustration of a horseshoe magnet.

Magnetic Breakfast

What Can a Magnet Find in Cereal?

 

Materials

  • bar magnet
  • sealable plastic sandwich bag
  • iron-fortified cereal
  • bowl of water
  • piece of white paper

Try This

  1. Crush a handful of iron-fortified cereal and put it in the bowl of water.
  2. Place the bar magnet in the sealed plastic sandwich bag.
  3. Dip the sealed magnet in the bowl and stir for several minutes.
  4. Pull the bag out and hold it over the piece of paper.
  5. Carefully pull the magnet up vertically out of the plastic bag.

What's Going On?

The small dark bits of material you see on the paper are iron. Humans need to eat some iron to be healthy. Iron is used by our blood cells to carry oxygen, for example. We usually get enough iron in our diet by eating iron-rich foods, such as dark, leafy vegetables, tofu, beans, and even dark chocolate. Some cereals and other processed foods have iron added to them.

Schematic illustration of pulling the bag and holding it over the piece of paper.