Magnetism

“It’s the unknown that draws people.”

― E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly
 Just a bit of history
The term magnetism comes from the name Magnesia, a coastal district of ancient Thessaly,
Greece, where certain stones were found by the Greeks more than 2000 years ago. These
stones, called lodestones, had the unusual property of attracting pieces of iron.

Magnets were first fashioned into compasses and used for navigation by the Chinese in the
twelfth century.

In the sixteenth century, William Gilbert, Queen Elizabeth's physician, made artificial
magnets by rubbing pieces of iron against lodestone, and he suggested that a compass always
points north and south because the Earth has magnetic properties.

Later, in 1750, John Michell, an English physicist and astronomer, found that magnetic poles
obey the inverse-square law, and his results were confirmed by Charles Coulomb.
 A bit more of history

The subjects of magnetism and electricity

developed almost independently of each
other until 1820, when a Danish physicist
named Hans Christian Oersted discovered,
in a classroom demonstration, that an
electric current affects a magnetic compass.

He saw confirming evidence that

magnetism was related to electricity.
Shortly thereafter, the French physicist
Andre Marie Ampere proposed that electric
currents are the source of all magnetic
phenomena.
 The bar magnet and magnetic lines of force

The space around

the magnet
contains a The shape of the field is revealed by the filings, which align with the
magnetic field. magnetic field lines that spread out from one pole and return to the
other.
 The bar magnet and magnetic lines of force

The direction of the

field outside a magnet
is from the north pole
to the south pole.
Where the lines are
closer together, the
field is stronger.
The magnetic poles cannot exist alone. The magnetic field lines never intersect each other.

• A free suspended magnet always point towards north and south direction.
• The pole of a magnet which points toward north direction is called north pole or north seeking.
• The pole of a magnet which points toward south direction is called south pole or south seeking.
• Like poles of magnets repel each other while unlike poles of magnets attract each other.
 Properties of Magnetic Lines of Force

The magnetic field lines never intersect each other because if they do so
it means that at that point the compass needle would point towards two
directions which is not possible.

They emerge at North Pole and merge at South Pole.

They are crowded near the poles and are far apart near the middle.

These are directed from North Pole to South Pole outside the magnet and
from south to North Pole inside the magnet.
Magnetic Effect of Current (Oersted’s experiment)
Magnetic Field due to current through a straight
conductor
Objective: To find the Magnetic Field Lines
due to a current through a straight conductor.

Apparatus: A Card Board. A wire. Battery (all

the circuit components). Iron fillings.

Procedure(in brief):
• Through the hole in the horizontal board
the wire through which current is to be
passed is put through.
• Iron Fillings are sprinkled around the wire.
• Battery is keyed on to make the current
pass.
 Magnetic Field due to current through a straight
conductor
Observation: As we tap the board (either on the
sides or from the bottom) we will see that the
iron fillings will arrange themselves around the
current carrying wire in concentric circles.

Inference: These concentric circles are the

magnetic lines of force which attract the iron
fillings to be aligned in that particular fashion.

This means that the magnetic lines of force are

in concentric circles around the straight current
carrying conductor.
Magnetic Field due to current through a straight
conductor: Strength and Direction

Is there a rule with which one can find the

direction of the magnetic field?
Right Hand Thumb Rule

Right hand thumb rule was given

by Maxwell. So this rule is also
known as Maxwell’s right hand
thumb rule. According to this
rule, imagine that you are holding
a current carrying wire in your
right hand so that the thumb
points in the direction of the
current, then the direction in
which the fingers wrap the wire
will represent the direction of
magnetic lines of force.
Right handed cork screw rule

If a right handed cork screw is

assumed to be held along the
conductor, and the screw is rotated
such that it moves in the direction
of the current, direction of
magnetic field is same as that of
the rotation of the screw.
 Magnetic field due to a current through a circular
loop
Now take the case where the straight wire is bent and made into a circular loop coming in
and out of the card board. We use the same RHT rule to find the Lines of Force.
 Magnetic Field due to a solenoid
What is a Solenoid?

Solenoid is a coil of a number of turns of insulated copper wire closely wrapped in shape of a
cylinder. Magnetic field around a current carrying solenoid is as shown in the figures.
 Some important points
Magnetic field due to a current carrying straight wire depends as the following:

Directly proportional to the length of the wire.

Directly proportional to the current passing through the wire.
Inversely proportional to the distance from the wire.

Factors effecting strength of magnetic field produced in a solenoid

The strength of magnetic field produced in a solenoid depends upon following factors:

Strength of Current
The strength of magnetic field produced in a solenoid is directly proportional to the magnitude of current passing through it.
Thus, strength of magnetic field increases if the magnitude of current passing through the solenoid is increased.
Number of Turns of Wire
Magnetic field can be increased by increasing the number of turns of copper wire in the solenoid.
Radius of the Loop
The magnetic field produced by the current in the loop is inversely proportional to the radius of the loop.
More about Solenoid

The poles of the Solenoid appear to be similar to

that of a bar magnet. One end of the Solenoid
behaves like North Pole and the other end
behaves like the South Pole. Magnetic field lines
inside the solenoid are in the form of parallel
straight lines.

This means that the field is same at all the points

inside the solenoid.

When soft iron rod is placed inside the solenoid,

it behaves like an electro magnet. The use of soft
iron as core in the solenoid produces the
strongest magnetism.
Force on a Current Carrying Conductor
 How do we find the direction of the force ?

Fleming’s left hand Rule: It is found that whenever an current carrying conductor is placed
inside a magnetic field, a force acts on the conductor, in a direction perpendicular to both
the directions of the current and the magnetic field.
 A trial problem

An Electron enters the magnetic field at right angles to it. (See figure) The direction of the
force acting on the electron would be

1. To the right
2. To the left
3. Out of the page
4. Into the page
By Fleming’s Left Hand Rule the force on the electron is perpendicular to the direction of
motion. Electron is flowing from top to bottom, hence the conventional current is flowing
from the bottom of the page to the top. Therefore the force on the electron would be into the
page.
Answer. Option 4.
 Some facts about the origin of Magnetic Field

A magnetic field is produced by the motion of electric charge. Where, then, is this motion in
a common bar magnet? The answer is, in the electrons of the atoms that make up the
magnet. These electrons are in constant motion. Two kinds of electron motion produce
magnetism: electron spin and electron revolution.

A common science model views electrons as spinning about their own axes like tops, while
they revolve about the nuclei of their atoms like planets revolving around the Sun. In most
common magnets, electron spin is the main contributor to magnetism.

Every spinning electron is a tiny magnet. A pair of electrons spinning in the same direction
creates a stronger magnet. A pair of electrons spinning in opposite directions, however,
work against each other.
Electric Motor
If we change the design of the galvanometer slightly so that
deflection makes a complete turn rather than a partial rotation,
we have an electric motor.

The principal difference is that the current in a motor is made to

change direction each time the coil makes a half rotation.

A permanent magnet produces a magnetic field in a region

where a rectangular loop of wire is mounted to turn about the
axis shown by the dashed line. When a current passes through
the loop, it flows in opposite directions in the upper and lower
sides of the loop. (It must do this because if charge flows into
one end of the loop, it must flow out the other end.)
Electric Motor (Current Causing Motion, Magnet
being present)
If the upper portion of the loop is forced to
the left, then the lower portion is forced to
the right, as if it were a galvanometer. But,
unlike a galvanometer, the current is
reversed during each half revolution by
means of stationary contacts on the shaft.
The parts of the wire that brush against
these contacts are called brushes. In this
way, the current in the loop alternates so
that the forces in the upper and lower
regions do not change directions as the loop
rotates. The rotation is continuous as long as
current is supplied.
Electric Motor Schematic Diagram
Electric Motor Diagram

Home-Work : Draw a neat labeled

diagram of electric motor and
describe the working principle.
 Electromagnetic Induction

In the early 1800s, the only current-producing devices were voltaic cells, which produced
small currents by dissolving metals in acids. These were the forerunners of modern batteries.

The question arose as to whether electricity could be produced from magnetism. The answer
was provided in 1831 by two physicists, Michael Faraday in England and Joseph Henry in
the United States—each working without knowledge of the other.

Their discovery changed the world by making electricity commonplace—powering

industries by day and lighting up cities at night. Faraday and Henry both discovered
electromagnetic induction—that electric current could be produced in a wire simply by
moving a magnet into or out of a coil of wire
 Electromagnetic Induction

Change in
magnetic field
(flux) results
in the flow of
the current.
A simple representation of the Faraday’s
experiment
Galvanometer (How does it work)
 Electric Generator
Generators are useful appliances that supply electrical power during a power outage and
prevent discontinuity of daily activities or disruption of business operations. It is a device for
converting mechanical energy to electrical energy.

Working Principal
When a conductor moves in a magnetic field, an emf is induced across the conductor. This is
the only basis on which each and every rotating electric generator works.

According to Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction, when a conductor links with a

changing flux, it will have an induced emf across it. The value of induced emf across the
conductor depends on the rate of change of flux linkage with the conductor.
Electric Generator
Fleming’s Right hand rule (applied for generator)
Working Principle

During rotation, when one side of

the loop comes in front of the
magnetic north pole, the
instantaneous motion of the
conductor will be upward hence
according to Fleming's Right Hand
Rule the induced emf will have
inward direction.
Working Principle

At the same time, another side of the

loop comes in front of the magnetic
south pole, the instantaneous motion
of the conductor will be downward
hence according to Fleming's Right
Hand Rule the induced emf will have
outward direction.
 Working Principle

During rotation, each side of the loop comes under

magnetic north pole and south pole alternately.
Again in the pictures, when any of the coil sides
(conductors) comes under north pole the motion of
the conductor would be upward and when it comes
under south pole the motion of the conductor
would be downward. Hence, the emf induced in
the loop alters its direction continuously. This is
the most basic conceptual model of an electric
generator. We also call it as single loop electric
generator. We can collect the induced emf in the
loop in two different ways.
 A word on Electromotive Force

Electromotive force (emf) is a measurement of the energy that causes current to flow through
a circuit. It can also be defined as the potential difference in charge between two points in a
circuit. Electromotive force is also known as voltage, and it is measured in volts.
Electromotive force is not truly a force; rather, it is a measurement of energy per unit charge,
but the term remains for historical reasons.

EMF vs. Voltage

1.Emf is the total voltage in the battery while the potential difference is the work done in
moving a charge against the electric field between two specific points in the circuit.
2.Emf is always greater than the potential difference.
3.The concept of emf is applicable only to an electrical field while the potential difference is
applicable to magnetic, gravitational, and electric fields.
Electrical Generator (Schematic Diagram)

Home-Work:

Draw a neat diagram of an

Electric Generator and write the
working principle of the same
with reference to the diagram.