An application of railgun

franz32

I have made an small application of a railgun. It looks simple but I don't get its principle involved here.

On a cardboard, two strips of aluminum foils are pasted qith an equal distance apart from each other, resembling a train's path.
A pair of alligator clips, both ends have 'head', in which the front heads of each are attached to one of the foils. the other ends on a 9V battery.

I assembed a pair of magnets connected by a 3 inch steel cut from a coathanger at the center of each magnet. Then here's the fun.
When I placed the "wheel" at the path, it moves away from the
start.

pallidin

Question:
Are the alligator clips connected to only ONE aluminum strip, each end, and the other aluminum strip not connected to anything electrically?

franz32

Hello to you!

Hmmm, I guess I did not mention it clearly. One alligator clip is attached to one of the foils while the other one is attached to another foil.