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09 - Magnetism (1)

Magnetism, derived from the ancient Greek city of Magnesia, refers to the attraction or repulsion of magnetic materials due to atomic arrangements. Historical knowledge of magnetism dates back to ancient civilizations, with significant contributions from figures like William Gilbert and Michael Faraday, who connected electricity and magnetism. The Earth's magnetic field, similar to that of a bar magnet, plays a crucial role in navigation and is influenced by solar winds, creating phenomena like the Aurora Borealis.

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7 views

09 - Magnetism (1)

Magnetism, derived from the ancient Greek city of Magnesia, refers to the attraction or repulsion of magnetic materials due to atomic arrangements. Historical knowledge of magnetism dates back to ancient civilizations, with significant contributions from figures like William Gilbert and Michael Faraday, who connected electricity and magnetism. The Earth's magnetic field, similar to that of a bar magnet, plays a crucial role in navigation and is influenced by solar winds, creating phenomena like the Aurora Borealis.

Uploaded by

jiataogeng7
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Magnetism

A Strangely Attractive
Topic
History #1

Term comes from the ancient


Greek city of Magnesia, at which
many natural magnets were found.
We now refer to these natural magnets as
lodestones (also spelled loadstone; lode means to
lead or to attract) which contain magnetite, a
natural magnetic material Fe3O4.

Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD Roman) wrote of a hill


near the river Indus that was made entirely of a
stone that attracted iron.
History #2
Chinese as early as 121 AD knew that an iron rod
which had been brought near one of these natural
magnets would acquire and retain the magnetic
property…and that such a rod when suspended
from a string would align itself in a north-south
direction.

Use of magnets to aid in navigation can be traced


back to at least the eleventh century.
William Gilbert, an English
physician, first proposed in
1600 that the earth itself is a
magnet, and he predicted
that the Earth would be found
to have magnetic poles.
What is Magnetism?

Magnetism is the force of


attraction or repulsion of
a magnetic material due
to the arrangement of its
atoms, particularly its
electrons.
Magnets have been known for
centuries.
The Chinese and Greeks knew about
the “magical” properties of magnets.
The ancient Greeks used a stone
substance called “magnetite.” They
discovered that the stone always
pointed in the same direction. Later,
stones of magnetite called
“lodestones” were used in navigation.
Finally, the Science
Not until 1819 was a connection between electrical
and magnetic phenomena shown. Danish scientist
Hans Christian Oersted observed that a compass
needle in the vicinity of a wire carrying electrical
current was deflected!

In 1831, Michael Faraday discovered that a


momentary current existed in a circuit when the
current in a nearby circuit was started or stopped

Shortly thereafter, he discovered that motion of a


magnet toward or away from a circuit could produce
the same effect.
Let This Be a Lesson!

Joseph Henry (first Director of the


Smithsonian Institution) failed to publish
what he had discovered 6-12 months
before Faraday
All of us are familiar with magnets. In a
magnet we have magnetic poles – the
north and the south pole.

A North seeking pole is called the North


Pole.
A South seeking pole is called the
South Pole.

Like magnetic poles repel and


unlike magnetic poles attract.
A bar magnet cut into halves always makes new,
complete magnets with both a north and a south
pole. The poles always come in pairs. You can
not separate a pair into single poles.
No Monopoles Allowed
It has not been shown to be possible to end up with
a single North pole or a single South pole, which is
a monopole ("mono" means one or single, thus one
pole).

S N

Note: Some theorists believe that magnetic


monopoles may have been made in the early
Universe. So far, none have been detected.
At the poles of a magnet, the magnetic field lines are
closer together.

Unlike poles of magnets attract


each other and like poles of
magnets repel.
Magnetic Field Lines
Magnetic field lines describe the structure of magnetic fields in
three dimensions.They are defined as follows. If at any point on
such a line we place an ideal compass needle, free to turn in any
direction (unlike the usual compass needle, which stays
horizontal) then the needle will always point along the field line.

Field lines converge where the magnetic force is strong, and


spread out where it is weak. For instance, in a compact bar
magnet or "dipole," field lines spread out from one pole and
converge towards the other, and of course, the magnetic force is
strongest near the poles where they come together.
Magnetic Fields:

A magnet that is moved in space near a


second magnet experiences a magnetic
field.

A magnetic field can be represented by


field lines.

The strength of the magnetic field is greater


where the lines are closer together and
weaker where they are farther apart.
Characteristics of Magnetic
Field Lines
The spacing of the lines indicates the
relative strength of the force.

Outside a magnet, the lines are


concentrated at the poles. They are
closest within the magnet itself.
By convention, the lines proceed from S
to N inside a magnet and from N to S
outside a magnet, forming closed loops.

The lines do not cross one another.


The earth is like a giant magnet!
The nickel iron core of the earth gives the earth a
magnetic field much like a bar magnet.
The Concept of “Fields”

Michael Faraday
realized that ...

A magnet has a
‘magnetic field’
distributed throughout
the surrounding space
Field Lines Around a Magnet
These lines are a map of the magnetic field
around a bar magnet. The needle of a
magnetic compass will follow the lines, with the
north end showing the direction of the field.
Our Earth is a big
magnet.
• The Earth’s magnetic field
is thought to originate with
moving charges.
• The core is probably
composed of iron and
nickel, which flows as the
Earth rotates, creating
electrical currents that
north pole and the
geographic North Pole
are not in the same
place.
Note also that the
magnetic north pole
acts as if the south
pole of a huge bar
magnet were inside
the earth. You know
that it must be a
magnetic south pole
since the north end of
a magnetic compass
is attracted to it and
opposite poles attract.
How to break a magnet:

1. Drop it

2. Heat it
Sometimes, the
Magnetic North Pole
Earth’s magnetic
poles flip. This
happens every
half-million years
or so.

Magnetic South Pole


The solar wind is constantly bombarding
the Earth’s magnetic field. Sometimes
these charged particles penetrate that
field. These particles are found in two
large regions known as the Van Allen
Belts.
The Earth’s magnetic field extends far into
space. It is called the “magnetosphere.”

When the magnetic particles from the sun, called


“solar wind”, strike this magnetosphere, we see a
phenomenon called…
e Aurora Borealis in the Northern Hemisphere

And the Aurora Australis in the Southern Hemisph

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