Magnets and Magnetic Fields

Magnetism

It is the force exerted by magnets when they attract or repel each other. Magnetism is caused by
the motion of electric charges. Every substance is made up of tiny units called atoms. Each atom
has electrons, particles that carry electric charges.

Magnets attract some metallic objects like iron and steel. Any magnet has two ends called poles,
which is where the magnetic effect is strongest. The pole of a freely suspended magnet that
points toward geographic north called the North Pole of the magnet. The other pole points
toward the south and is called the South Pole.

Opposite poles attracts each other and like poles repel each other.
 This is what the magnetic field lines would look like.

Earth’s Magnetic Field

It is the magnetic field that extends from Earth’s interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar
wind, and a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun.

Magnetic Field

Magnetic Field is the region around a magnetic material or a moving electric charge within which the
force of magnetism acts. To introduce the concept of magnetic field properly, let’s review our
formulation of Electric interactions where we introduced the concept of Electric field. We represented
electric interactions in two steps:

1. A distribution of electric charge at rest creates an electric field in the surrounding space.
2. The electric field exerts a force on any other charge that is present in
the field.
We can describe magnetic interactions in a similar way:
1. A moving charge or a current creates a magnetic field in the
surrounding space (in addition to its electric field).
2. The magnetic field exerts a force on any other moving charge or
current that is present in the field.

Like electric field, magnetic field is a vector field that is, a vector quantity associated
with each point in space. We will use the symbol for magnetic field. At any position
the direction of is defined as the direction in which the north pole of a compass
needle tends to point. The arrows in Fig. 3 suggest the direction of the earth’s
magnetic field; for any magnet, points out of its north pole and into its south pole

The Definition of

We determined the electric field at a point by putting a test particle of charge at

rest at that point and measuring the electric force acting on the particle. We then

defined as

If a magnetic monopole were available, we could define in a similar way. Because

such particles have not been found, we must define in another way, in terms of
the magnetic force exerted on a moving electrically charged test particle.

Moving Charged Particles. In principle, we do this by firing a charged particle

through the point at which is to be defined, using various directions and speeds for
the particle and determining the force that acts on the particle at that point. After
many such trials we would find that when the particle’s velocity is along a particular
axis through the point, force is zero. For all other directions of , the magnitude of
is always proportional to v , where is the angle between the zero-force axis and
the direction of . Furthermore, the direction of is always perpendicular to the
direction of . (These results suggest that a cross product is involved.)

The Field. We can then define a magnetic field ⃗ to be a vector quantity that is
directed along the zero-force axis. We can next measure the magnitude of when
is directed perpendicular to that axis and then define the magnitude of in terms of
that force magnitude:

where is the charge of the particle.

We can summarize all these results with the following vector equation:

that is, the force on the particle is equal to the charge times the cross product of
its velocity and the field (all measured in the same reference frame). Using
the cross product, we can write the magnitude of as
 where is the angle between the directions of velocity and magnetic field .

SI Unit for Magnetic Field

The SI unitis the newton per coulomb-meter per second. For convenience, this is
called the tesla (T):

Recalling that a coulomb per second is an ampere, we have

.
An older name for the tesla is the <weber per meter squared=
An earlier (non-SI) unit for þ⃗ , still in common use, is the gauss (G), and
1 tesla = 104

1G= 10−4 T
A field given in gauss should always be changed to teslas before using with other SI
units.

Electric Field vs. Magnetic Field

 An object with a moving charge always has both magnetic and electric fields.
They have some similarities and also have two different fields with the same
characteristics. Both fields are inter-related called electromagnetic fields, but they are
not dependent on each other.

The magnetic field is an exerted area around the magnetic force. It is obtained
by moving electric charges. The direction of the magnetic field is indicated by lines.
While the electric fields are generated around the particles which obtain electric
charge. During this process, positive charges are drawn, while negative charges are
repelled.

The area around a magnet within which magnetic force is exerted, is called a
magnetic field. It is produced by moving electric charges. The presence and strength
of a magnetic field is denoted by <magnetic flux lines=. The direction of the magnetic
field is also indicated by these lines. The closer the lines, the stronger the magnetic
field and vice versa. When iron particles are placed over a magnet, the flux lines can
be clearly seen. Magnetic fields also generate power in particles which come in
contact with it. Electric fields are generated around particles that bear electric
charge. Positive charges are drawn towards it, while negative charges are repelled.

A moving charge always has both a magnetic and an electric field, and that’s
precisely the reason why they are associated with each other. They are two different
fields with nearly the same characteristics. Therefore, they are inter-related in a field
called the electromagnetic field. In this field, the electric field and the magnetic field
move at right angles to each other. However, they are not dependent on each other.
They may also exist independently. Without the electric field, the magnetic field exists
in permanent magnets and electric fields exist in the form of static electricity, in
absence of the magnetic field.

What are Electric and Magnetic Fields?

Magnetic fields are created whenever there is a flow of electric current. This
can also be thought of as the flow of water in a garden hose. As the amount of current
flowing increases, the level of magnetic field increases. Magnetic fields are measured in
milliGauss (mG).

A electric occurs wherever a voltage is present. Electric fields are

n field
created around appliances and wires wherever a voltage exists. You can think of
electric voltage as the pressure of water in a garden hose – the higher the voltage,
the stronger the electric field strength. Electric field strength is measured in volts
per meter (V/m). The strength of an electric field decreases rapidl y as you move
away from the source. Electric fields can also be shielded by many objects, such
as trees or the walls of a building.

Nature
An electric field is essentially a force field that’s created around an electrically
charged particle. A magnetic field is one that’s created around a permanent magnetic
substance or a moving electrically charged object.

Movement
In an electromagnetic field, the directions in which the electric and magnetic
field move, are perpendicular to each other.

Units
The units which represent the strengths of the electric and magnetic field are
also different. The strength of the magnetic field is represented by either gauss or
Tesla. The strength of an electric field is represented by Newton per Coulomb or Volts
per Meter.

Force
The electric field is actually the force per unit charge experienced by a non
moving point charge at any given location within the field, whereas the magnetic field
is detected by the force it exerts on other magnetic particles and moving electric
charges.
However, both the concepts are wonderfully correlated and have played
important roles in plenty of path breaking innovations. Their relationship can be
clearly explained with the help of Maxwell’s Equations, a set of partial differential
equations which relate the electric and magnetic fields to their sources, current
density and charge density.
 Difference Between Electric Field and Magnetic Field
Electric Field Magnetic Field
It creates an electric charge Creates an electric charge
Nature in surrounding around moving magnets
Measured as newton per Measured as gauss or tesla
Units
coulomb
Proportional to the electric Proportional to charge and
Force
charge speed of electric charge
Movement in Perpendicular to the Perpendicular to the electric
Electromagnetic field
field magnetic field
An electric field is measure is The magnetic field is
Measuring
measured using an measured using the
device
electrometer magnetometer

Magnetic Flux
Magnetic flux is a measure of the number of magnetic field lines passing through an
area (the product of the average magnetic field times the perpendicular area that it
penetrates). The symbol we use for flux is the Greek letter capital phi, .The
equation for magnetic flux is:
Φ = BA cosθ

where θ is the angle between the magnetic field and the area vector . The area
vector has a magnitude equal to the area of a surface, and a direction perpendicular to
the plane of the surface. The SI unit for magnetic flux is the weber (Wb). 1 Wb = 1 T
m 2.

Faraday’s law states that an induced current is produced whenever the flux changes.
The flux depends on the magnetic field B, area A, and the angle θ. A change in any of
these three factors constitutes a change in flux.

Fig. A. To maximize the magnetic flux through a

flat area, orient the area so the plane of the area is
perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field.
(a) shows a perspective view, while (b) shows the
view looking along the field lines. In this case, the
area vector is in the same direction as the field
lines. (Full
faced area perpendicular to the magnetic field gives a
maximum magnetic flux)

Fig. B. There is no flux when the plane of the area is

parallel to the field. (a) shows a perspective view,
while (b) shows the view looking along the field
lines. In this case, the area vector is perpendicular to the field lines. (An area must
be perpendicular to the magnetic field)

Fig. C. Tilting the loop from the orientation in

Figure A reduces the flux. (a) shows a perspective
view, while (b) shows the view along the field lines.
(Lesser exposure of surface area means lesser flux)

Example
The figure below is a perspective view of a flat surface with area 3.0 cm 2 in a uniform
magnetic field þ⃗ . The magnetic flux through this surface is +0.90 mWb. Find the
magnitude of the magnetic field and the direction of the area vector ý .

Figure D. (a) A flat area A in a uniform magnetic field þ⃗ (b) The area vector makes a
60 angle with þ⃗ . (If we had chosen to point in the opposite direction, θ would have
been 120 and the magnetic flux would have been negative.)

Solution
Identify and Set Up: Our target variables are the field magnitude B and the direction
of the area vector. Because is uniform, B and θ are the same at all points on the
surface. Hence, we can use
= BA cosθ
−4 2
Execute: The area A is 3.0x10 m ; the direction of is perpendicular to the surface, so
θ could be either 60 or 120. But Φþ, B, and A are all positive, so cosθ must also be
positive. This rules out 120, so θ = 60, see figure above. Hence, we find

Evaluate: In many problems we are asked to calculate the flux of a given magnetic
field through a given area. This example is somewhat different: It tests your
understanding of the definition of magnetic flux.