What is Magnet?

Objects which attract magnetic materials like cobalt, iron, and nickel are called as a
magnet.
A magnet was discovered by an ancient Greek shepherd named Magnes. Therefore,
this naturally occurring mineral – magnet was named by the discover’s name. The
magnets, obtained naturally from a Magnetite rock, are called as the natural
magnets and those magnets prepared by the combination of certain mineral ores are
called as the artificial magnets.
Magnetic Materials: Cobalt, iron, and nickel are some examples of Magnetic
Materials. These materials easily attract towards a magnet.
Non-magnetic Materials: Aluminum, zinc, wood, and rubber are called the Non-
magnetic Materials, as these materials are not attracted towards the magnet even
when they are brought closer to the magnets.

Types of Magnets
There are different types of magnets and are classified based on their shapes. The
different types of magnets include – bar magnet, dumb-bell shaped magnet,
horseshoe magnet, cylindrical magnet, etc.

Magnetic compass
The magnetic compass is a simple device which has been used from the ancient
times by the sailors and other travelers to find directions. A magnetic compass is
composed of a small box with a glass top and a magnetic needle which moves and
indicates the directions.

Important Questions

1. Who discovered magnet?

2. List out the properties of a magnet.
3. What is the principle of an electromagnet?
4. What is magnet compass? How it is used to find directions?
5. Write the difference between magnetic and non-magnetic material with
examples.

What is a Magnet?
A magnet is defined as
An object which is capable of producing magnetic field and attracting unlike poles
and repelling like poles.

Properties of Magnet
Following are the basic properties of magnet:

 When a magnet is dipped in iron filings, we can observe that the iron filings
cling to the end of the magnet as the attraction is maximum at the ends of
the magnet. These ends are known as poles of the magnets.
 Magnetic poles always exist in pairs.
  Whenever a magnet is suspended freely in mid-air, it always points towards
north-south direction. Pole pointing towards geographic north is known as
North pole and the pole pointing towards geographic south is known as South
pole.
 Like poles repel while unlike poles attract.
 The magnetic force between the two magnets is greater when the distance
between these magnets are lesser.

Types of Magnets
There are three types of magnets and they are as follows:

 Permanent magnet
 Temporary magnet
 Electromagnets

Permanent Magnet
Permanent magnets are those magnets that are commonly used. They are known as
permanent magnets because they do not lose their magnetic property once they are
magnetized.
Following are the ways to demagnetize the permanent magnets:

 Exposing magnets to extreme temperatures.

 The magnetic attraction between the magnet’s atoms gets loosen when they
are hammered.
 Stroking one magnet with the other in an inappropriate manner will reduce
the magnetic strength.
There are four types of permanent magnets:

 Ceramic or ferrite
 Alnico
 Samarium Cobalt (SmCo)
 Neodymium Iron Boron (NIB)

Temporary Magnet
Temporary magnets can be magnetized in the presence of a magnetic field. When
the magnetic field is removed, these materials lose their magnetic property. Iron
nails and paperclips are examples of the temporary magnet.

Electromagnets
Electromagnets consist of a coil of wire wrapped around the metal core made from
iron. When this material is exposed to an electric current, the magnetic field is
generated making the material behave like a magnet. The strength of the magnetic
field can be controlled by controlling the electric current.
Related Articles:

 Difference Between Electromagnet and Permanent Magnet

 Bar Magnet
  Magnetic Classification of Materials

Characteristics of Magnet
Following are the characteristics of magnet:

 Attractive property: This property proves that the magnetic strength at the
ends of the poles are strong.
 Directive property: This property helps to understand which pole of the
magnet is north and south by suspending the magnet in mid-air.
 Law of magnetic poles: Like poles repel while unlike poles attract.
 Pair property: When a magnet is cut into two pieces, both the pieces will
have a north pole and south pole.
 Sure test of magnetization: This test is conducted to check if a given rod
is magnetized or not by checking either the attraction or the repulsion of the
iron rod and magnet.

Uses of Magnets
Following are the uses of magnets:

 Magnets are used for constructing magnetic needles and mariner’s compass.
 Permanent magnets find applications in generators, electric accelerators, and
electric motors.
 Electromagnets find application in speakers, electric bells, and electric cranes.
 Magnets are used for the separation of iron filling from other solid mixture.
Discovery Of Magnets - Applications
We see magnets all around us; refrigerator stickers, magnetic screws and caps,
magnetic play boards, pin holders etc. Large scale applications include the cranes
that are used to carry scrap metals in industries and scrap yards. For centuries,
magnetic compass has been used by travelers for navigation. Ever wondered how it

was first discovered.

History of Magnets:
According to Greek legend magnetism was first discovered by a shepherd named
Megnes, who lived in Megnesia, Greece. Megnes was herding his sheep through the
mountains. Suddenly he noticed the ferrule of his stick and nails in his sandals got
stuck to a rock. The iron in his stick and nails had become attracted to the magnetic
rock. The stone was named as magnetite, after the name of the shepherd or the
country it was found in. It was also known as loadstone because of its attractive

properties.

Magnetite is one of the three natural occurring oxides of iron. It gets attracted
to magnets and can be easily magnetized to form a permanent magnet. Naturally

magnetized pieces of magnetite are called loadstone.

People from ancient Egypt started using magnets to play tricks, by making objects of
worship float in mid-air by proper positioning of magnets. Legends has it, the
emperor from China used magnets to save his palace by constructing gates made of
loadstone. The amours made of metal got attracted to the magnetic gates and
prevented them from going any further.
In his book, De Magnete(1600), scientist William Gilbert has mentioned techniques
of artificially making magnets from steel. He used three techniques by which steel
can be magnetized permanently:

1. Rub the steel needle with a block of loadstone along a particular direction
starting from one end and ending at other
2. Forging powdered iron at high temperature under strong magnetic forces.
3. Leaving red hot iron bar to cool in Earth’s magnetic field for twenty years.
This method only had theoretical basis and was not used for the purpose.

In 1820, the concept of electromagnetism was discovered by Hans CristainOrsted,

who observed a deflection in the compass needle from magnetic north when electric
current from
the battery he was powering his set up with was switched on and off.

To learn more about this topic, download Byju’s – The Learning App from Google
Play Store and watch interactive videos. Also, take free tests to practice for exams.

What are magnets useful?

Magnets have been proving its worth every day with its incredible function by
making the most strenuous tasks easier. With the various uses of magnets in daily
life, we can do heavy lifting which is not humanly possible to do every day. Magnets
play an important role in various devices which can be a small toy or a heavy 100-
ton device to pick up heavy metals.

Various Applications and Uses of Magnets

We come across magnets in various forms such as computers, MRI machines or
inside some appliances which are used in the house, business or medical industry.
The size can be from very small to the large giant like structures. Some magnet uses
at home, in laboratory and in daily life is provided in the points below.

 We might be using computers in our day to day lives but never wondered the
presence of a magnet inside it. Magnetic elements present on a hard disk
helps to represent computer data which is later ‘read’ by the computer to
extract information.
  Magnets are used inside TVs, Sound speakers and radios. The small coil of
wire and a magnet inside a speaker transforms the electronic signal to sound
vibrations.

 Magnets are used inside a generator to transform mechanical energy

to electrical energy where there are other kinds of motors which use magnets
to change electrical energy to mechanical energy.

 Electrically charged magnets can help cranes to move large metal pieces.

 Magnets are used in filtering machines which separates metallic ores from
crushed rocks.

 It is also used in food processing industries for separating small metallic

pieces from grains etc.

 Magnets are used in MRI machines which are used to create an image of the
bone structure, organs, and tissues. Even magnets are used to cure cancer.

 At home, you use magnets when you stick a paper on the refrigerator in
order to remember something. Attaching a magnetic bottle opener to the
fridge can come in handy.

 We often use pocket a compass to find out directions when we are on a trek.
The pocket compass uses a magnetic needle to point north.

 The dark strip on the back of debit and credit cards is of magnetic nature and
are used to store data just like computers’ hard drives.

 Magnets can help collect all the nails which are scattered on the ground after
a repair job.
Permanent Magnets And Magnetic Behaviour
Magnetic field is produced by objects known as magnets. When these properties of
magnetism are not lost throughout time it’s known as a permanent magnet. So what
is this special property in a permanent magnet that is not lost in the test of time?
Magnetism is shown by ferromagnetic material as well. Some of the materials are a
few alloys of iron and nickel. The way the domains are oriented in a ferromagnetic
substance depends on its property of magnetism.

The magnetic fields that are produced individually cancel themselves out when the
domains are randomly oriented. A collective magnetic field can be produced by
reducing the randomization of the domain by influencing it by an electrical field. This
is one of the process through which electromagnets are produced. But if the
domains are already arranged such that they point in the same direction, even
without an external influence they will produce a collective magnetic field. These are
permanent magnets.

When imposing a magnetizing field on ferromagnetic substances the domains get

arranged to produce magnetism and do not go back to their normal state. When the
driving field is zero and even then the domains have not rearranged themselves to
normalcy the time the substance takes to demagnetize or remains magnetized for is
known as remanence. If we try to put the magnetic property back to zero by
applying a field in an opposite direction the amount of that reverse field that’s
required to demagnetize that substance is known as coercivity. The lack to retain
magnetic property of a substance is known as hysterisis.

Have you ever noticed that an iron nail which has been attached to a magnet for
sometime attracts other non magnetic iron nails for a short span even after it has
been detached from the magnet? This is because the domains of the iron nail had
been reoriented. This effect is weak and is lost pretty soon. Therefore that iron nail
will not be considered as a permanent magnet.
The main advantage of a permanent magnet over any other type is that it does not
need a continuous supply of external energy (in the case of electromagnets,
electricity) to exhibit magnetism. For example, permanent magnets are used as
compass needles.

An everyday example of a permanent magnet is a refrigerator magnet. The image

below shows the magnetic field produced by a bar magnet. The magnetic field is the
sphere of influence of the magnet.
This can be visualized by sprinkling iron filings on a bar magnet. The filings will
arrange themselves on the magnetic field lines of the magnet used. The strength of
different magnets can be seen physically in this way.
This can be visualized by sprinkling iron filings on a bar magnet. The filings will
arrange themselves on the magnetic field lines of the magnet used. The strength of
different magnets can be seen physically in this way.

What are Rare Earth Magnets?

Rare-earth magnets fall under the category of permanent magnets having a
composition of alloys manufactured from rare earth element(mostly elements
from lanthanide series, and alloys.
They were developed in the year 1970s and 1980s and they are the strongest type
of permanent magnets. They produce magnetic fields that are quite strong than
other types of magnets like alnico and ferrite magnets. The rare earth magnets
have a field strength of more than 1.4 tesla, whereas ceramic and ferrite magnets
have fields of 0.5 to 1.0 Tesla. Some other types of magnetostrictive rare earth
magnets such as the Terfenol-D find applications in the audio systems.

 Rare are earth magnets tend to be highly fragile and also would be exposed
to corrosion, so they would be typically coated or plated to protect them from
breaking or crumbling into powder.
 The term “rare earth” could be confusing as these metals are not particularly
rare or precious; they are usually abundant in plenty like tin or lead.

Types of Rare Earth Magnets

There are two types of rare earth magnets:

 Samarium-cobalt
 Neodymium

Samarium-cobalt Magnets:

 These are the first group of rare earth magnets discovered are used less
unlike neodymium magnets owing to their cost being higher and magnetic
field strength being weaker.
 The samarium-cobalt has a Curie temperature being higher and has a higher
resistance to oxidation, but sintered samarium-cobalt magnets are fragile and
vulnerable to chipping and cracking, and might crumble when exposed to
thermal shock.

Neodymium Magnets:

 These type of magnets were discovered during the 1980s and are the most
affordable and strongest type of rare-earth magnet. They are manufactured
out of an alloy of iron, neodymium and boron, termed by the abbreviation
NIB.
 Neodymium magnets have a higher coercivity. They are of use in various
applications such as electric motors for jewellery clasps, hard disk drives and
magnetic hold-downs.

Uses of Rare Earth Magnets

Common Applications: Rare-Earth Magnets has some common applications like:

 Bicycle dynamos
 Permanent magnet motors present in cordless tools
 Magnetic resonance imaging devices
 Audio headphones
 High-performance AC servo motors
 Computer hard disk drives
 Industrial uses such as maintaining product purity, equipment protection, and
quality control
 Wind turbine generators
 Integrated starter-generators and traction motors generators in electric
vehicles
  Fishing reel brakes.
Other Applications: Rare-earth magnets have other applications like:

 LED Throwies
 Launched roller coaster
 Electrodynamic bearings
 Linear motors(used in magnetic levitation trains)
 Electric guitar pickups
 Stop motion animation
 Diamagnetic levitation experimentation – It is the study of the superconductor
dynamics and magnetic field levitation
 Neodymium magnet toys
Magnetic Field Of Earth - Earth's Magnetism
If you have ever used a compass (either the traditional mechanical one or the one
built in your Smartphone), then you know it always points north. If you suspend a
refrigerator magnet, it will also point north. This suggests that there is a magnetic
field all around us generated by the earth under your feet!
The earth’s magnetic field extends millions of kilometres into outer space and looks
very much like a bar magnet. The earth’s south magnetic pole is actually near the
North Pole and the magnetic north pole is in Antarctica! This is why a
compass magnet’s north pole actually points north (north and south poles attract).
The Earth’s magnetic field extends far and wide but is very weak in terms of field
strength. A mere 40,000 nT compared to a refrigerator magnet which has a strength
of 10
The Earth’s magnetic field extends far and wide but is very weak in terms of field
strength. A mere 40,000 nT compared to a refrigerator magnet which has a strength
of 107 nT!

Theory of Earth’s Magnetism

There is one theory that explains how the earth’s magnetism is caused:

1. Dynamo effect: The earth gets its own magnetic field lines because of the
presence of the metallic fluids that are present at the outer core as well as in
the inner core. The outer core consists of molten iron while the inner core has
the solidified elements.

What Causes Earth’s Magnetism?

Earth’s Magnetism is generated by convection currents of molten iron and nickel in
the earth’s core. These currents carry streams of charged particles and generate
magnetic fields. This magnetic field deflects ionising charged particles coming from
the sun (called solar wind) and prevents them from entering our atmosphere.
Without this magnetic shield, the solar wind could have slowly destroyed our
atmosphere preventing life on earth to exist. Mars does not have a strong
atmosphere that can sustain life because it does not have a magnetic field protecting
it.
The earth’s magnetic poles are not aligned to the actual geographic north and south
poles. Instead, the magnetic south pole is in Canada while the magnetic north pole
lies in Antarctica. The magnetic poles are inclined by about 10 degrees to the earth’s
rotational axis. So, all this time your compass was really pointing to Canada, not the
true North!

Components of Earth’s Magnetic Field

There are three components that are responsible for the magnitude as well as the
direction of the earth’s magnetic field:

 Magnetic declination
 Magnetic inclination or the angle of dip
 Horizontal component of the earth’s magnetic field

Magnetic Declination
The magnetic declination is defined as the angle between the true north and the
magnetic north. On the horizontal plane, the true north is never at a constant
position and keeps varying depending upon the position on the earth’s surface and
time.

Magnetic Inclination
The magnetic inclination is also known as the angle of dip. It is the angle made the
horizontal plane on the earth’s surface. At the magnetic equator, the angle of dip is
0° and at the magnetic poles, the angle of dip is 90°.

Horizontal Component of the Earth’s Magnetic Field

There are two components to explain the intensity of the earth’s magnetic field:

 Horizontal component (H)

 Vertical component (v)
tanδ=BvBH

sinδ=BvB

cosδ=BHB

sin2δ+cos2δ=B2HB2+B2vB2

1=B2HB2+B2vB2

B=B2H−−−√+B2v
Summary

Component Definition Description

Total Magnetic-field
B B=(√X2 + Y2 + Z2)
Strength vector

Magnetic field
component along
X X = H cos α
Geographic North
direction

Magnetic field
component along
Y Y = H sin α
Geographic East
direction

Magnetic field
Z component pointing
vertically downwards

Magnetic field
component parallel to
H the earth’s surface H = (√X2 + Y2)
(Points towards the
magnetic south pole)

Magnetic declination:
Angle between true
α α = tan−1YX
north and magnetic
north

Magnetic Inclination:
Angle measured from
θ horizontal to magnetic θ = tan−1ZH
field vector. It is 90 deg
at magnetic poles.

Poles Of Magnets
There are two magnetic poles in a bar magnet. Take a bar magnet and place it on a
paper on a plane surface like a table or the ground. Sprinkle some iron filings on and
around the magnet. You will see a pattern that is formed as shown in the image
given below.
The lines shown in the image above represent magnetic field lines. They depict the
strength of the magnet. For a strong magnet, this magnetic field will cover a larger
area. As you can see in the image above, all the magnetic field lines seem to diverge
or converge and two points… the north and the south poles of the magnet. This
signifies that the external magnetic field of a magnet is strongest in this region.
For all magnets, the point at which all magnetic field lines converge is the south pole
and the point from which all magnetic field lines diverge will be the magnetic north
pole. The properties of magnetic fields have been summarized as given below

 Magnetic lines of force (magnetic field lines) originate at the north pole and
end at the south pole of the magnet
 Magnetic field lines are closest to each other at the poles and their degree of
separation varies as you further away from the magnet
 Magnetic lines of force never intersect each other
 A magnetic compass placed at any point of a magnetic field is always
tangential to the magnetic line of force at that point.
If you have a magnet, it will have a fixed north on south pole depending on the
convergence or divergence of magnetic force lines. If you were to cut the magnet in
half, the poles can never be isolated. Instead, you would have just created another
magnet with its own north and south poles.
Try to test your understanding of magnetic poles by answering this question. If you
have two bar magnets with you, why is it that the like poles (north and north or
south and south) of the magnet repel each other, whereas unlike poles attract each
other?