Magnets

Question 1

What is a magnet?

Answer 1

• Any material or object the produces a magnetic field

Question 2

Law of magnetism

Answer 2

• Two like poles repel eachother
• Two opposite poles attract eachother

Question 3

What type of force is magnetism?

Answer 3

• Non-contact

Question 4

How to draw magnetic field lines and what do they show us?

Answer 4

• Always coming out of North and into South
• The denser the lines (the closer together they are), the stronger the force of magnetism at that point
• Field lines must never touch or cross eachother

Question 5

Why and how can we use a compass to draw magnetic field lines?

Answer 5

• The compass needle is a small bar magnet - it will always point towards South
• Lineup at the end of one side and draw a dot showing where it’s pointing. Lineup magnet at the drawn dot and repeat this. Join up dots to form lines

Question 6

Earth’s magnetic field

Answer 6

• The north arrow on a magnetic compass will point towards the geographic North Pole
• This is because the geographic North Pole is a magnetic south pole
• The north pole of the magnetic compass is attracted to the Earth’s magnetic south pole