Magnetism Flashcards
What materials can be made into permanent magnets?
ferromagnetic
What elements are ferromagnetic?
Iron, nickel and cobalt
What causes ferromagnetism?
Domains (mini-magnets) that exist as part of the metal’s structure aligning
What causes the alignments of the domains?
heating, working or applying an existing magnetic field
What is a magentic field?
A region surrounding a magnet in which another magnet or ferromagnetic material will experience a magnetic force
Which way do arrows point in a field pattern?
North to south
How can field patterns be plotted?
- with a plotting compass
- place it in area around magnet and the needle will line up along the field lines
- head is a north pole so points towards a south pole
How do we know that the earth has a magnetic field?
Magnets suspended above the earth experience a force
How does the north pole of a compass point to geographic north?
- north pole is attracted to and thus points at magnetic south pole
- Earth’s magnetic south pole is the geographic north pole
What causes earth’s magnetic field?
The liquid nickel-iron outer core of the earth
Why does the solid iron core of the earth not exhibit magnetic properties?
it is at too high a temperature
How does induced magnetism take place?
- When a magnetic material is in close proximity to, or in contact with, a permanent magnet
- permanent magnet’s pole causes the opposte pole of the domains in the ferromagnetic material to attract to it and align.
Why is induced magnetism only temporary?
When the permanent magnet is removed, the domains fall back into random arrangement
Why does induced magnetism always result in attraction?
Since the induced magnet always has the opposite pole closest to the permanent magnet
other than magnets, what else can produce magnetic fields?
An electric current
What does the magnetic field in a current carrying wire look like?
Increasingly sized circles flowing the direction as shown by the right hand rule
What is a solenoid?
A current carrying coil
What determines the polarity of the filed in a solenoid?
The direction of current round the circuit
How do solenoids become electromagnets?
With the inclusion of a soft iron core
What is a soft iron core?
A pure iron core which isn’t alloyed
How can electromagnets be switched on and off?
- domains in the iron core align to form a temporary, induced magnet when current flows through the coil
- when the current is switched off, alignement of domains is lost so no magnetic effect
Why cant steel cores be used in electromagnets?
Sicne steel cores would become permanently magnetised even when the current is turned off