A sheet of current

The plane of wires extents to in each direction.

Define n as the number of wires/length. Each wire
carries current I.
By symmetry and the right hand circulation rule for
direction, B points right above the plane and left below.
It is plausible and we will prove this later, that B is
proportional to the product of nI and independent of
location above the plane.

Two sheets of current

Bt
Bm
Bb

Call Bt, Bm, Bb the fields above, in the middle, and below
the planes.
Appealing to superposition arguments, the field should
be big in between the planes and small above or below.
In the limit of infinite planes, Bu=Bd0, and BmnI,

A solenoid
A solenoid consists of wire wound into a helix. If the
winding is tight, and the solenoid is long, the it is very much
like a current sheet rolled into a cylinder and we can use the
result of the previous slide.
Well promote the proportionality to an equality: Bsol=m0nI,
where m0=4p10-7 Tm/A. m0 plays a role somewhat
analogous to that of e0 for electric fields.
The direction follows from RHR and is parallel to the axis.
Solenoids have the very useful property that inside
B=constant, while outside, B0. This is how well use the
solenoid for the next two weeks: as a way to create a
simple magnetic field of known value in a well defined
region of space.

Field direction in solenoid

A.
B.
C.
D.

Which way will B point in the

volume of the green cylinder?
Left.
Out of screen.
Right.
Into screen.

Solenoid 2

A.
B.
C.

What will happen to the magnet in the figure?

Nothing.
It will be pushed to the left.
It will be pulled to the right.

Real solenoid

In a finite length, not perfectly wound solenoid, the field

lines spill out one end (the north pole) and circle around
to the other (south pole): the solenoid forms a dipole
magnet
The field will likewise not be perfectly parallel to the axis
in the interior, and it will weaken away from the center in
all directions.
Nevertheless, the infinite solenoid approximation is not
bad.

Numerical example: how to get a big field

Lets take a big current, 100 A, and a tightly wound
cable, lets say 1000 turns/meter.
This would give us a solenoid field of
Bsol = (4p10-7 )(100)(1000)= 0.12 T, still short of a
Tesla.
We could make a bigger field by raising I or n, but this
produces a challenge. Raising n requires finer wire, and
since R=rL/A, higher resistance wire. But P=I2R from
Ohms law, so this means more heating. Raising I then
increases the challenges more.
There are two better ways: finding something with r=0
(superconductivity), or using magnetic materials.

Solenoids are very common

Starter motor solenoid is at (6)

Relay switch

superconducting solenoids

1.5 T MRI solenoid

The solenoid for the CMS experiment at the

CERN LHC
Diameter = 6m
Length = 13m
Niobium-titanium, operating
temperature 4K.
Current =19500A.
Field=3.8T.
Turns/meter=163.
Inductance (later)=14H
LR time constant (later) = 39 hours.
Stored energy (later) = 2.67109J.

Atomic Dipoles
These are the key building blocks of natural magnets.
Some key points:
The field strength is proportional to the dipole moment
(m=turnscurrentarea).
The field decreases in strength as 1/distance3.
A dipoles potential energy is minimized by aligning it
with an external field. U=-uBB. This happens
through the torque on a dipole, t=uBB.
Anti-aligned dipoles attract one another.

Interacting coils

Suppose the coil at left carries current in the direction

shown. A second coil to the right of the dashed line
carries the same current. Which configuration of this
second coil will have the lowest potential energy (be in
stable equilibrium)?
A. Left-most.
B. Middle.
C. Right-most.

Para- Dia- FerroS

In paramagnets and ferromagnets, atomic dipoles align

with external fields. The effect is much stronger for
ferromagnets, and for ferromagnets, the alignment will
persist when the external field is removed..
Diamagnets are repelled by a bar magnet. This behavior
totally contradicts our energy argument. Other
explanations exists, but really this is quantum weirdness.
Diagmagnetic effects are small and more rare.

The description of magnetization

In any material, the total magnetic field can be broken
into an externally applied part Bapp and an internal part
due to dipole alignment Bmag, Btot= Bapp+ Bmag
Many materials can be described magnetically by two
related numbers that relate Bmag to Bapp called the
susceptability cM, and the relative permeability KM .
These need to be looked up.
The definitions are: Bmag = cMBapp and Btot =
Bapp+cMBmag = (1+cM)Bapp = KmBapp.
For historical and practical reasons, the applied field Bapp
is often written as Bapp=m0H, so you will also see Btot =
(1+cM)m0H = Kmm0H; and the internal field is written as
Bmag=m0M, implying M=cMBapp/m0=cMH.

Trends in cM, KM
Medium

Susceptibility (m)
[5]

Mu-metal

20,000

Permalloy

8000

Electrical steel

4000

[5]

[5]

ferrite (nickel zinc)

ferrite (manganese zinc)
[5]

Steel

700

Nickel

100

Platinum

2.65 10

Aluminum

2.22 10

Hydrogen

8 10

Vacuum

Sapphire

2.1 10

Copper

6.4 10

Water

8.0 10

[5]
4
5

7
6

Magnetic materials can be

organized by the behavior of
their cM:
If cM is small and positive, the
material is paramagnetic.
If cM is small and negative, the
material is diamagnetic.
If cM is large and positive, the
material is ferromagnetic. For
ferromagnetic, cM = cM(Bapp), and
it can depend on the history of
Bapp.

Domains
Ferromagnetism cannot be explained
by using magnetic forces with
Newtons laws; it is a quantum
mechanical (QM) phenomenon.
From our classical point of view,
adjacent dipoles should anti-align.
In QM, the opposite happens over
small connected regions called
domains in which all the spins line up
the same way.
Different domains have random
orientations, but they can aligned with
an external field.
Once aligned, they tend to stay stuck
in that position.

Curie Temperature
Even the strong alignment within ferromagnetic domains
can be removed if thermal energies exceed magnetic
potential energies.
This can be demonstrated by heating a ferromagnet
beyond a to its Curie temperature. TC.
For T>TC, ferromagnetism stops as thermal fluctuations
overwhelm magnetic alignment effects.

Hysterisis

Red: The sample starts demagnetized with B=0 at H=0.

Green: B follows H in a fairly linear fashion.
Blue: B saturates, ceasing to increase with H.
Magenta: As H returns to 0, B0. The sample stays
magnetized.
Yellow: It takes a negative H to return B to 0. Thereafter,
B changes quickly with H, and the process repeats.
Work must be performed by the battery driving H to
change B. The magnetic moment domains get stuck by
friction type forces. The sample heats up during the
hysterisis loop.

Degaussing
Naval vessels need to be
degaussed to remove their Bfield built up by exposure of their
steel hull to the earths field.
Otherwise, a magnetic mine could
sense the ship.
Degauassing is accomplished by
driving the parts of the entire ship
through a number of hysterisis
loops until the field is brought to 0.
Old-fashioned CRT terminals
needed to be degaussed too.

The Bohr model of the atom

This is a simple planetary model of an atom that works
reasonably well for hydrogen.
We picture the electron as orbiting the nucleus (with
charge Ze) at a radius R. Newtons laws then imply that
F=kZe2/R2=mv2/R. Bohrs part of the model was his wild
guess that the angular momentum L=mvR only took on
integer multiples of the constant h/2p, with h=6.610-34 Js
known as Plancks constant; ie., L=n(h/2p).
The electron will pass a particular point once per
revolution, implying a current I=e/T=ev/2pR..
The orbits surrounds a circle of area A=pR2, and the
electrons orbital motion thus has a magnetic moment
m=pR2I=pR2ev/2pR=(mvR)(e/2m)=(e/2m)L=n(eh/2pm).
The combination mB=eh/2pm is called the Bohr
magneton; mB=9.210-24 Am2.

More to the story

In addition to their orbital angular momentum, electrons
have what is called spin.
The spin can only take on the values along an external
magnetic field equal to 1/2(h/2p).
The orbital angular momentum is likewise quantized
along the direction of B.
Both the spin and the orbital angular momentum of
electrons contribute to the angular momentum, and
hence the magnetic moment of atoms, with spin often
being the more important quantity.
No angular momentumNo magnets!

Potential energy of a Bohr magneton

Recall that PE=-mB. The difference in PE between an
aligned and anti-aligned magnetic moment is DPE=2mB.
With a 1 T B-filed and m=mB, this amounts to
DPE=1.810-23 J.
For comparison, the thermal energy of one atom at room
temperature is UkBT (last semester) with kB=1.410-23
J/K = the Boltzman constant. This is 225 the
difference in magnetic potential energies.
Conclusion: unless something special happens, atomic
magnetic dipole moments do not all line up with external
B-fields up at room temperature.
We can of course make them line up by using large
fields and low temperatures. Furthermore, event at room
temperature, a fraction of them will align. This
alignment of molecular dipole moments is the
source of natural magnetism.