MAGNETISM

&
ELECTROMAGNETISM
A brief history
1600 William Gilbert, On magnetism; magnetic materials;
poles that attract & repel; Earth’s magnetic field, compass ‘dip’
1820 Hans Christian Oersted finds that an electric current deflects
a compass needle.
1820 Andre Marie Ampère finds that parallel wires
carrying current produce forces on each other.
1820s, 1830s Michael Faraday develops the concept of
electric field and shows that
electric current + magnetism -> motion (motor effect)
motion + magnetism -> electric current (electromagnetic induction)

1860s James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) establishes

a mathematical description of electromagnetism.
 Lodestone (Mineral)
• Lodestones attracted
iron filings.
• Lodestones seemed to
attract each other.
• Used as a compass.
– One end always pointed
north.
• Lodestone is a natural
magnet.

Magnetism 3
 Types of Magnetic Materials
1. Paramagnetic materials
• The materials which are not strongly attracted
to a magnet are known as paramagnetic
material. For example: aluminium, tin
magnesium etc. Their relative permeability is
small but positive.
2. Diamagnetic materials
• The materials which are repelled by a magnet
such as zinc. mercury, lead, sulfur, copper,
silver, bismuth, wood etc., are known as
diamagnetic materials. Their permeability is
slightly less than one. For example the relative
permeability of bismuth is 0.00083, copper is
0.000005 and wood is 0.9999995.
3. Ferromagnetic materials
• The materials which are strongly attracted by
a magnetic field or magnet is known as
ferromagnetic material for eg: iron, steel ,
nickel, cobalt etc. The permeability of these
materials is very very high ( ranging up to
several hundred or thousand).
• Permeability- A property of a material that
describes the ease with which a magnetic flux
is established in the component.

Retentivity is the capacity of an object to

retain magnetism after the action of the
magnetizing force has ceased.
 Magnetism
• Refrigerators are attracted to magnets!

Magnetism 8
Describing a magnetic field
Field lines indicate both direction and magnitude
(strength) of a magnetic field. They end at poles.

Bar magnet

A compass needle can be thought of as a test dipole.

Magnetic flux density (‘field strength’) has symbol B, unit tesla.
Common misconceptions
• All metals are magnetic materials.

• Static charges interact with the poles of permanent magnets.

• Magnetic poles are located on the surface of a magnet.

[Careful observation shows that they are inside the magnet.]

Magnetic poles: always pairs

A permanent magnet can be split into two or more

magnets, each with N and S poles which cannot be
isolated.

This suggests that the magnetic effect of a permanent

magnet comes from microscopic, circulating electric
currents.
 Domain theory

demagnetised Microscopic structure

Electron spin, inside atoms,

is the main cause of
magnetised
ferromagnetism.
Magnetising & demagnetising
Make a magnet
• by stroking
• by using DC coil carrying current
• by tapping while aligned with the Earth’s field

Demagnetise a magnet
• by dropping or banging randomly
• by heating
• by applying a diminishing AC current
Magnetic induction
A permanent magnet can induce temporary magnetism
in a ‘soft’ magnetic material.
• This causes attraction, but cannot cause repulsion.
• Use repulsion to test if an object is already magnetised.
Magnetic field of a straight wire
NB: Here
field lines
are closed
loops.

Right hand screw rule, a.k.a. the ‘corkscrew’ or

‘pencil sharpener’ rule:
Place thumb in direction of current; fingers indicate direction of
the magnetic field.
Magnetic field of a solenoid

N S

Right hand grip rule: Wrap fingers around solenoid in

direction of current; thumb indicates N pole.
Note the similarity
 Right-hand rule: Grasp the element
in your right hand with your
extended thumb pointing in the
direction of the current. Your
fingers will then naturally curl
around in the direction of the
magnetic field lines due to that
element.

Magnetism 18
 Applications
• Motors
• Navigation – Compass
• Magnetic Tapes
– Music, Data
• Television
– Beam deflection Coil
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• High Energy Physics Research

Magnetism 19
Motors everywhere
lifts & escalators; fans, turbines, drills; wheelchairs; car windscreen
wipers, starter motors, windows & side mirrors; motors in electric
cars, locomotives & conveyor belts; industrial robots, saws and
blades in cutting and slicing processes; food mixers & blenders,
microwave ovens; hand power tools such as drills, sanders,
routers; electric toothbrushes, shavers, hairdryers; vacuum
cleaners, sound systems, computers …

using electricity supplied by power station generators

 Uses of electromagnetism
• loudspeaker
• moving coil microphone
• motors of various designs
• electric bell or buzzer (can be made in class, URLS below)
• moving coil galvanometer (ammeter)

• relay (control circuit with small current switches a second,

larger, current circuit)
Practical Physics website: model buzzer, model electric bell
Catapult effect

Fleming’s
left hand
rule

Force on a current-carrying wire in a B-field. Compare AC to DC.

Simple DC motor
Motors & loudspeakers

Westminster kit motor

http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/practical-physics/electric-motor

Model loudspeaker
http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/practical-physics/model-
loudspeaker

homopolar motor
Parallel currents

parallel - attract anti-parallel - repel

Force per unit length, at spacing r,

mo I1I 2
F=
2πr
AC generator
Motor/generator

SEP unit
Transformer
 Magnets
• Like Poles Repel
• Opposite Poles
Attract
SN
• Magnetic Poles are
only found in pairs.
– No magnetic
monopoles have
ever been
Shaded End is NORTH Pole observed.
Shaded End of a compass points
to the NORTH.

Magnetism 29
 +

Observations
+ +

• Bring a magnet to a charged electroscope and

nothing happens. No forces.
• Bring a magnet near some metals (Co, Fe, Ni
…) and it will be attracted to the magnet.
– The metal will be attracted to both the N and S
poles independently.
– Some metals are not attracted at all.
– Wood is NOT attracted to a magnet.
– Neither is water.
• A magnet will force a compass needle to align
with it. (No big Surprise.)
Magnetism 30
 Magnets

Cutting a bar magnet in half produces TWO bar magnets,

each with N and S poles.

Magnetism 31
 Consider a Permanent Magnet


B

N S

Magnetism 32
 Introduce Another Permanent Magnet

B
N
N S
pivot

The bar magnet (a magnetic dipole) wants to align with the B-field.

Magnetism 33
 Field of a Permanent Magnet

B
N
N S

The south pole of the small bar magnet is attracted towards

the north pole of the big magnet.
Also, the small bar magnet (a magnetic dipole) wants to align
with the B-field.
The field attracts and exerts a torque on the small magnet.
Magnetism 34
 Field of a Permanent Magnet

B
N S
N S

The bar magnet (a magnetic dipole) wants to align with the B-field.

The field exerts a torque on the dipole

Magnetism 35
 The Magnetic Field
• Similar to Electric Field … exists in
space.
– Has Magnitude AND Direction.
• The “stronger” this field, the greater is
the ability of the field to interact with
a magnet.

Magnetism 36
 Convention For Magnetic Fields

X 
B
Field INTO Paper Field OUT of Paper

Magnetism 37
 Experiments with Magnets Show
• Current carrying wire produces a circular
magnetic field around it.

• Force on Compass Needle (or magnet)

increases with current.
Magnetism 38
 Current Carrying Wire

Current into
the page.

Right hand Rule-

Thumb in direction of the current
Fingers curl in the direction of B

Magnetism 39
 Current Carrying Wire
• B field is created at ALL POINTS in space
surrounding the wire.
• The B field had magnitude and direction.
• Force on a magnet increases with the current.
• Force is found to vary as ~(1/d) from the wire.

Magnetism 40
 Compass and B Field
• Observations
– North Pole of magnets
tend to move toward the
direction of B while S
pole goes the other way.
– Field exerts a TORQUE on
a compass needle.
– Compass needle is a
magnetic dipole.
– North Pole of compass
points toward the
NORTH.

Magnetism 41
 Planet Earth

Magnetism 42
 Inside it all.

8000
Miles

Magnetism 43
 In Between
• The molten iron core exists in a magnetic field that
had been created from other sources (sun…).
• The fluid is rotating in this field.
• This motion causes a current in the molten metal.
• The current causes a magnetic field.
• The process is self-sustaining.
• The driving force is the heat (energy) that is
generated in the core of the planet.

Magnetism 44
After molten lava emerges from a volcano, it solidifies to a rock. In most
cases it is a black rock known as basalt, which is faintly magnetic, like
iron emerging from a melt. Its magnetization is in the direction of the
local magnetic force at the time when it cools down.

Instruments can measure the magnetization of basalt. Therefore, if a

volcano has produced many lava flows over a past period, scientists can
analyze the magnetizations of the various flows and from them get an
idea on how the direction of the local Earth's field varied in the past.
Surprisingly, this procedure suggested that times existed when the
magnetization had the opposite direction from today's. All sorts of
explanation were proposed, but in the end the only one which passed
all tests was that in the distant past, indeed, the magnetic polarity of
the Earth was sometimes reversed.

Magnetism 45
 Ancient Navigation

Magnetism 46
 This planet is really screwed up!
NORTH
POLE

SOUTH POLE
Magnetism 47
 Repeat
Navigation
Navigation
DIRECTION
DIRECTION
N
If N direction S
is pointed to by
the NORTH pole
of the Compass
Needle, then the
pole at the NORTH
of our planet must
be a SOUTH MAGNETIC
Compass POLE!
S
Direction N

And it REVERSES from time to time.

Magnetism 48
Magnetism 49
 teslas are

At the Surface of the Earth 3 x 10-5 T

Typical Refrigerator Magnet 5 x 10-3 T

Laboratory Magnet 0.1 T

Large Superconducting Magnet 10 T

Magnetism 50
 So…
• A moving charge can create a magnetic
field.
• A moving charge is acted upon by a
magnetic field.

• In Magnetism, things move.

• In the Electric Field, forces and the
field can be created by stationary
charges.
Magnetism 51
 Wires
• A wire with a current
contains moving charges.
• A magnetic field will
apply a force to those
moving charges.
• This results in a force
on the wire itself. F
– The electron’s sort of
PUSH on the side of the
wire.

Remember: Electrons go the “other way”.

Magnetism 52
 Magnetic Levitation
Magnetic Force

Current = i

mg
iLB  mg
Where does B point???? Into the paper.
mg
B
iL

Magnetism 53
 MagLev

Magnetism 54
 Magnetic Repulsion

Magnetism 55
 Detail

Magnetism 56
 Moving Right Along ….

Magnetism 57
 Acceleration

Magnetism 58