PHY

PHY 184
184
Spring 2007
Lecture 21

Title: Magnetism

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 1

 Permanent Magnets
 Examples of permanent magnets include
refrigerator magnets and magnetic door latches.
 They are all made of compounds of iron, nickel, or
cobalt.
 If you touch an iron needle to a piece of magnetic
lodestone, the iron needle will be magnetized.
 If you then float this iron needle in water, the
needle will point toward the north pole of the Earth
(approximately!)
 We call the end of the magnet that points north
the north pole of the magnet and the other end the
south pole of the magnet.

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 2

 Permanent Magnets - Poles
 Magnets exert forces on one
another --- attractive or
repulsive depending on
orientation.
 If we bring together two
permanent magnets such that
the two north poles are
together or two south poles are
together, the magnets will repel
each other.
 If we bring together a north
pole and a south pole, the
magnets will attract each other.

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 3

 Magnetic Field Lines
 Permanent magnets interact with each other at a
distance, without touching.
 In analogy with the electric field, we define a
magnetic field to describe the magnetic force.
 As we did for the electric field, we may represent
the magnetic field using magnetic field lines.
 The magnetic field direction is always tangent to
the magnetic field lines.

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 4

 Magnetic Field Lines (2)
 The magnetic field lines from a permanent bar magnet are
shown below

Two dimensional computer calculation Three dimensional real-life

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 5

 Break a Permanent Magnet in Two
 If we break a permanent
magnet in half, what do we get?

S
S N
A? N

What do you think?

OR S
N S
B? N

A: A north and a south pole each?

B: A piece that is just a north pole and the corresponding south-pole piece?

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 6

 Broken Permanent Magnet
 If we break a permanent
magnet in half, we do not
get a separate north pole
and south pole.
 When we break a bar
magnet in half, we always
get two new magnets, each
with its own north and south pole.
 Unlike electric charge that exists as positive (proton) and
negative (electron) separately, there are no separate magnetic
monopoles (an isolated north pole or an isolated south pole).
 Scientists have carried out extensive searches for magnetic
monopoles; all results are negative.
 Magnetism is not caused by magnetic particles! Magnetism is
caused by electric currents.

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 7

 Magnetic Field Lines
 For the electric field, the electric force points in the same
direction as the electric field and the electric force was
defined in terms of a positive test particle.
 However, because there is no magnetic monopole, we must
employ other means to define the magnetic force.
 We can define the direction of the magnetic field in terms
of the direction a compass needle would point.
 A compass needle, with a north pole and a south pole, will
orient itself in equilibrium such that its north pole points in
the direction of the magnetic field.
 Thus the direction of the field can be measured at any point
by moving a compass needle around in a magnetic field and
noting the direction that the compass needle points.

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 8

 The Earth’s Magnetic Field
 The Earth itself is a magnet.
 It has a magnetic field sort of like a bar
magnet (but not really like a bar magnet).
 The poles of the Earth’s
magnetic field are not aligned
with the Earth’s geographic
poles defined as the endpoints
of the axis of the Earth’s rotation.
 The Earth’s magnetic field is not as simple
as drawn here because it is distorted by
the solar wind
• Protons from the Sun moving at 400
km/s
 The field inside the Earth is very
complex.

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 9

 The Earth’s Magnetic Field
 Here is the real reason…

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 10

 Earth’s Magnetic Field Strength
 The strength of the Earth’s magnetic field at the
surface of Earth is on the order of 1 G
 The strength varies between 0.25 G and 0.65 G

Geomagnetic field strength

(National Geophysical Data Center)

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 11

 Earth’s Magnetic Poles
 The north and south magnetic poles are not located at
the north and south geographic poles
• The magnetic north pole is located in Canada
• The magnetic south pole is located on the edge of
Antarctica
 The magnetic poles move around, at a rate of 40 km per
year
• By the year 2500 the magnetic north pole will be
located in Siberia
• There are indications that the Earth’s magnetic field
reverses (N S) on the time scale of 1 million years
or so.

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 12

 Magnetic Declination
 A compass needle points toward the magnetic north pole rather
than true north.
 The angle between the direction a compass needle points and true
north is called the magnetic declination.
 The magnetic declination is defined to be
• positive when magnetic north is east of true north
• negative when magnetic north is west of true north
 The magnetic north pole currently resides on a line that passes
through central Missouri, Eastern Illinois, Western Iowa, and
Eastern Wisconsin
 Along this line the magnetic declination is zero.
 West of this line the magnetic declination is positive and reaches
18° in Seattle.
 East of this line the declination is negative, up to -18° in Maine.

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 13

 Magnetic Declination (2)
 Because the positions of the Earth’s magnetic poles move with time, the
magnetic declination is not constant.
 For example, here is the estimated magnetic declination for Lansing,
Michigan for the period 1900 – 2004.

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 14

 Definition of the Magnetic Field

Notations
Electric field = E(x)
Magnetic field = B(x)

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 15

 Magnetic Force
 We define the magnetic field in terms of its effect on an
electrically charged particle (q).
 Recall that an electric field exerts a force on a particle with
charge q given by   
F  qE (x )
 A magnetic field exerts no force on a stationary charge.
 But a magnetic field does exert a force on a charge that moves
across the field.
 The direction of the force is perpendicular to both the velocity
of the moving charged particle and the magnetic field; the
magnetic force is sideways.
 The Lorentz force    
F  qv  B (x )

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 16

 Right Hand Rule
 The direction of the cross produce (v x B ) is given by the
right hand rule.

 To apply the right hand rule

• Use your right hand!
• Align thumb in the direction of v
• Align your index finger with the magnetic field
• Your middle finger will point in the direction of the cross
product v x B .

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 17

 Right Hand Rule (2)
 What about the sign of the
charge?

 If q is positive, then F is in the

same direction as v x B.

 If q is negative, F is in the
opposite direction.

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 18

 Magnitude of Magnetic Force
 The magnitude of the magnetic force on a moving charge is

FB  qvBsin 
 … where  is the angle between the velocity of the charged
particle and the magnetic field.
 Do you see that there is no magnetic force on a charged
particle moving parallel to the magnetic field? (Because  is
zero and sin(0)=0)
 Do you see when the magnetic forfce is most strong? (Max.
force is for  = 90 degrees; then F = q v B)

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 19

 The magnetic force on a moving charge is sideways.

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 20

 Clicker Question (1)
 The figure shows a charged
particle with velocity v travels
through a uniform magnetic field
B. What is the direction of the
magnetic force F on the particle?

A) negative z direction
B) positive y direction
C) positive z direction
D) negative x direction

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 21

 Clicker Question (2)
 The figure shows a charged
particle with velocity v travels
through a uniform magnetic field
B. What is the direction of the
magnetic force F on the particle?

A) positive y direction
B) positive z direction
C) the force is 0
D) negative x direction

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 22

 Clicker Question (3)
 The figure shows a charged
particle with velocity v travels
through a uniform magnetic field
B. What is the direction of the
magnetic force F on the particle?

A) positive y direction
B) the force is 0
C) negative z direction
D) negative x direction

F = q v B sin(180) = 0

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 23

 Units of Magnetic Field Strength
 The magnetic field strength has received its own named
unit, the tesla (T), named in honor of the physicist and
inventor Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)
Ns N Check unit consistency:
1T=1 1 F=qvB
Cm Am N = C (m/s) T

 A tesla is a rather large unit of the magnetic field strength.

 Sometimes you will find magnetic field strength state in
units of gauss (G), (not an official SI unit)
-4
1 G = 10 T 10 kG = 1 T

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 24

 Example: Proton in B Field
 Consider a region of uniform
magnetic field (green dots); the
magnitude is B=1.2 mT and the
direction is vertical. A proton with
kinetic energy E=8.48 10-13J
enters the field, moving
horizontally from south to
north.Calculate the magnetic
deflecting force on the proton.

Answer: 6.1 x 10-15 N

2/14/07 184 Lecture 21 25