- (G) investigate and describe the relationship between electric and magnetic fields in applications such as generators, motors, and transformers.
In addition, the High School Physics Laboratory Manual addresses content in this section in the lab titled: Magnetism, as well as the following standards:
- (5) Science concepts. The student knows the nature of forces in the physical world. The student is expected to:
- (G) investigate and describe the relationship between electric and magnetic fields in applications such as generators, motors, and transformers.
Section Key Terms
Curie temperature domain electromagnet electromagnetism ferromagnetic magnetic dipole magnetic field magnetic pole magnetized north pole permanent magnet right-hand rule solenoid south pole Magnets and Magnetization
People have been aware of magnets and magnetism for thousands of years. The earliest records date back to ancient times, particularly in the region of Asia Minor called Magnesia—the name of this region is the source of words like magnet. Magnetic rocks found in Magnesia, which is now part of western Turkey, stimulated interest during ancient times. When humans first discovered magnetic rocks, they likely found that certain parts of these rocks attracted bits of iron or other magnetic rocks more strongly than other parts. These areas are called the poles of a magnet. A magnetic pole is the part of a magnet that exerts the strongest force on other magnets or magnetic material, such as iron. For example, the poles of the bar magnet shown in Figure 20.2 are where the paper clips are concentrated.
Figure 20.2 A bar magnet with paper clips attracted to the two poles.If a bar magnet is suspended so that it rotates freely, one pole of the magnet will always turn toward the north, with the opposite pole facing south. This discovery led to the compass, which is simply a small, elongated magnet mounted so that it can rotate freely. An example of a compass is shown Figure 20.3. The pole of the magnet that orients northward is called the north pole , and the opposite pole of the magnet is called the south pole .
Figure 20.3 A compass is an elongated magnet mounted in a device that allows the magnet to rotate freely.
The discovery that one particular pole of a magnet orients northward, whereas the other pole orients southward allowed people to identify the north and south poles of any magnet. It was then noticed that the north poles of two different magnets repel each other, and likewise for the south poles. Conversely, the north pole of one magnet attracts the south pole of other magnets. This situation is analogous to that of electric charge, where like charges repel and unlike charges attract. In magnets, we simply replace charge with pole: Like poles repel and unlike poles attract. This is summarized in Figure 20.4, which shows how the force between magnets depends on their relative orientation.
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Figure 20.4 Depending on their relative orientation, magnet poles will either attract each other or repel each other.
Consider again the fact that the pole of a magnet that orients northward is called the north pole of the magnet. If unlike poles attract, then the magnetic pole of Earth that is close to the geographic North Pole must be a magnetic south pole! Likewise, the magnetic pole of Earth that is close to the geographic South Pole must be a magnetic north pole. This situation is depicted in Figure 20.5, in which Earth is represented as containing a giant internal bar magnet with its magnetic south pole at the geographic North Pole and vice versa. If we were to somehow suspend a giant bar magnet in space near Earth, then the north pole of the space magnet would be attracted to the south pole of Earth’s internal magnet. This is in essence what happens with a compass needle: Its magnetic north pole is attracted to the magnet south pole of Earth’s internal magnet.
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Figure 20.5 Earth can be thought of as containing a giant magnet running through its core. The magnetic south pole of Earth’s magnet is at the geographic North Pole, so the north pole of magnets is attracted to the North Pole, which is how the north pole of magnets got their name. Likewise, the south pole of magnets is attracted to the geographic South Pole of Earth.
What happens if you cut a bar magnet in half? Do you obtain one magnet with two south poles and one magnet with two north poles? The answer is no: Each half of the bar magnet has a north pole and a south pole. You can even continue cutting each piece of the bar magnet in half, and you will always obtain a new, smaller magnet with two opposite poles. As shown in Figure 20.6, you can continue this process down to the atomic scale, and you will find that even the smallest particles that behave as magnets have two opposite poles. In fact, no experiment has ever found any object with a single magnetic pole, from the smallest subatomic particle such as electrons to the largest objects in the universe such as stars. Because magnets always have two poles, they are referred to as magnetic dipoles —di means two. Below, we will see that magnetic dipoles have properties that are analogous to electric dipoles.
Figure 20.6 All magnets have two opposite poles, from the smallest, such as subatomic particles, to the largest, such as stars.
Watch Physics
Introduction to Magnetism
This video provides an interesting introduction to magnetism and discusses, in particular, how electrons around their atoms contribute to the magnetic effects that we observe.
