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Magnetism: A Strangely Attractive Topic

Magnetism is caused by the alignment of electron spins in atoms. All magnets have north and south poles and create magnetic fields. Like poles repel and unlike poles attract. Only magnetic materials are attracted to magnets through magnetic fields that act at a distance. Electric currents can induce magnetism and changing magnetic fields can induce electric currents, as discovered by Hans Oersted and Michael Faraday. Their findings led to applications like electric motors, generators, and transformers.

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254 views28 pages

Magnetism: A Strangely Attractive Topic

Magnetism is caused by the alignment of electron spins in atoms. All magnets have north and south poles and create magnetic fields. Like poles repel and unlike poles attract. Only magnetic materials are attracted to magnets through magnetic fields that act at a distance. Electric currents can induce magnetism and changing magnetic fields can induce electric currents, as discovered by Hans Oersted and Michael Faraday. Their findings led to applications like electric motors, generators, and transformers.

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MAGNETISM

A Strangely Attractive Topic


HISTORY
 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 (lode means to lead or to attract)
which contain magnetite, a natural magnetic
material Fe3O4.
HISTORY
 Plinythe Elder (23-79 AD Roman) wrote of a hill
near the river Indus that was made entirely of a
stone that attracted iron.
HISTORY
 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.
HISTORY

Basically, we knew the phenomenon existed

and we learned useful applications for it.

We did not understand it.

Not until its connection to electrical charges and


currents was discovered.
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.
What causes magnetism?
 Atoms themselves have magnetic properties
due to the spin of the atom‟s electrons.
 Groups of atoms join so that their magnetic fields
are all going in the same direction.
 These areas of atoms are called “domains”.
What causes magnetism?
 When an unmagnetized substance is placed in a
magnetic field, the substance can become
magnetized.
 This happens when the spinning electrons line up
in the same direction.
What causes magnetism?
 An unmagnetized substance looks like this…

 While a magnetized substance looks like this…


How to “break” a magnet?
 Drop it.

 Heat it.

 This
causes the domains to
become random again!
A big natural magnet..
 It exerts magnetic Magnetic South Pole Geographic North Pole

forces and is
surrounded by a
magnetic field that
is strongest near the
North and South
magnetic poles.

Magnetic North Pole


Geographic South Pole
PROPERTIES OF MAGNETS
 There are north poles and south poles.
 Magnets set up a magnetic field around it.
 Like poles repel, unlike poles attract.
 Magnetic forces attract only magnetic materials.
 Magnetic forces act at a distance.
1. North and South Poles
 Every magnet has at least one north pole and
one south pole.
 If you take a bar magnet and break it into two
pieces, each piece will again have a north pole
and a south pole.

 No matter how small the pieces of the magnet


become, each piece will have a north pole and
a south pole.
1. North and South Poles, cont.
 Ithas 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).
2. Magnetic Fields
 Michael Faraday realized that a magnet has a
„magnetic field‟ distributed throughout the
surrounding space.

 This
field exerts a force on any charge/magnetic
material on it.
2. Magnetic Fields, cont.
 Fieldlines converge where the magnetic force is
strong, and spread out where it is weak. In a
compact bar magnet or dipole, field lines
spread out from one pole and converge
towards the other.
3. Like poles, unlike poles
 LAW of MAGNETISM: Like poles repel, unlike poles
attract.
4. Attract only magnetic materials
 Magnets only attract certain types of metals, other
materials such as glass, plastic and wood aren't
attracted.

 Metals such as iron, nickel and cobalt are attracted


to magnets.

 Most metals however are not attracted to


magnets, these include
copper, silver, gold, magnesium, platinum, aluminium
and more. They may however magnetize a small
amount while placed in a magnetic field.

 Magnetism can attract magnetic objects or push


them away.
5. Action at a Distance
 Although two magnets
may not be
touching, they still
interact through their
magnetic fields.
 Thisexplains the
„action at a
distance‟, say of a
compass.
Electricity to Magnetism
Hans Oersted
 first observed that a current in a wire affects a
nearby compass needle
 Implication: an electric current creates a
magnetic field
Electromagnets
- Magnets created using a current

Magnetic strength increases with:


 more current in the wire
 more coils of wire
 bigger ferromagnetic core
Uses of Electromagnetism
1. Electric motors
 Converts electrical energy to mechanical energy
 Anytime electricity is converted into a motion its
through an electric motor
Uses of Electromagnetism
2. Current meters
 Galvanometer – used to measure small currents
 Ammeter – used to measure currents
 Voltmeter – used to measure voltage
Magnetism to Electricity
Michael Faraday
 if an electric current can create a magnetic
field, then maybe a magnetic field can create a
electric current
 this led to his Law of Electromagnetic Induction
Law of Electromagnetic Induction
 Any change in the magnetic field of a coil of
wire will cause a voltage to be induced in the
coil, called the induced voltage.
 If the conductor circuit is closed, the current will
also circulate through the circuit and this current
is called induced current.

How to increase induced voltage/current


 Increase number of coils
 Increase magnetic field
 Increase speed of relative motion between coil
and magnetic field
Uses of Electromagnetic Induction
1. Generator
 Converts mechanical energy to electrical energy
 Used in most power plants to create electricity
 In coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear or geothermal
power plants, the heat is used to boil water into
steam which is then used to rotate the turbines
 In wind, hydroelectric (dam/falls) and tidal power
plants, the turbines are rotated by the wind/water
 The only sources of electricity that does not use
generators are solar, chemical
(batteries), piezoelectric (crystals) and
thermoelectric (heat)
Uses of Electromagnetic Induction
2. Transformer
 Used to increase or decrease
voltage/current
 Step-up or Step-down
 High voltage electricity is
used in long distance
transmission
 Low voltage is used in homes

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