Magnetism

Magnetic lines of force of a bar magnet shown by iron filings on paper.

In physics, magnetism is one of the phenomena by which materials exert attractive and repulsive forces on other materials. Some well-known materials that exhibit readily detectable magnetic properties are iron, some steels, and the mineral lodestone (an oxide of iron). Objects with such properties are called magnets, and their ability to attract or repel other materials at a distance has been attributed to a magnetic field. Magnets attract iron and some other metals because they imbue them temporarily with magnetic properties that disappear when the magnets are taken away.

Every magnet has two poles, or opposite parts, that show uniform force characteristics. The opposite poles of two magnets attract each other, but their similar poles repel each other. No magnet has ever been found to have only one pole. If a magnet is broken, new poles arise at the broken ends so that each new piece has a pair of north and south poles.

• All materials are influenced to a greater or lesser extent by a magnetic field.

History

888888888

• Magnetotactic bacteria had learned the trick. Magnetotactic bacteria build miniature magnets inside themselves and use them to determine their orientation relative to the Earth's magnetic field [1].

888888888

• [This mineral, among other substances, either naturally or artificially produced, that exhibit similar properties, are called magnets. Magnets have two poles, or opposite parts that show uniform force characteristics. The similar poles of two magnets repel each other, but the opposite poles attract. No magnet has ever been found that has only one pole.
• Magnets attract iron and some other metals because they imbue them temporarily with magnetic properties that disappear when the magnets are taken away.]

The phenomenon of magnetism has been known since ancient times, when it was observed that lodestone, an iron oxide mineral (Fe₃O₄) with a particular crystalline structure, could attract pieces of iron to itself. The early Chinese and Greeks, among others, found that when a lodestone is suspended horizontally by a string and allowed to rotate around a vertical axis, it orients itself such that one end points approximately toward true north. This end came to be called the north pole (north-seeking pole), while the opposite end was called the south pole (south-seeking pole). In addition, this observation led investigators to infer that the Earth itself is a huge magnet, with a pair of north and south magnetic poles.

The mysteries of magnetic phenomena were documented and clarified by William Gilbert (1544-1603) in his treatise, De Magnete. In the eighteenth century, Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (1736-1806) noted that the forces of attraction or repulsion between two magnetic poles can be calculated by an equation similar to that used to describe the interactions between electric charges. He referred to an "inverse square law," which (in the case of magnets) states that the force of attraction or repulsion between two magnetic poles is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of the pole strengths and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the poles.

Connection between magnetism and electricity

It was not until the nineteenth century, however, that investigators began to draw a connection between magnetism and electricity. In 1820, Hans Christian Ørsted (1777-1851) discovered that a compass, which consists of a small magnet balanced on a central shaft, is deflected in the presence of an electric current. Building on this discovery, Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774-1862) and Félix Savart (1791-1841) established that a current-carrying wire exerts a magnetic force that is inversely proportional to the distance from the wire.

André-Marie Ampère (1775-1836) formulated an elegant mathematical expression that defined the link between an electric current and the magnetic force it generates. Michael Faraday (1791-1867) introduced the concept of lines of magnetic force, and he discovered that a changing magnetic force field generates an electric current. This discovery paved the way for the invention of the electric generator.

James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) added another term to Ampère's equation, mathematically developed Faraday's concept of force fields, and summarized the relationship between electricity and magnetism in a set of equations named after him. One of these equations describes how electric currents and changing electric fields produce magnetic fields (the Ampère-Maxwell law), and another equation describes how changing magnetic fields produce electric fields (Faraday's law of induction). In this manner, electricity and magnetism were shown to be linked together. The overall phenomenon came to be called electromagnetism, and the combination of electric and magnetic fields was called the electromagnetic field.

Maxwell further showed that waves of oscillating electric and magnetic fields travel through empty space at a speed that could be predicted from simple electrical experiments. Using the data available at the time, Maxwell obtained a velocity of 310,740,000 meters per second (m/s). Noticing that this figure is nearly equal to the speed of light, Maxwell wrote in 1865 that "it seems we have strong reason to conclude that light itself (including radiant heat, and other radiations if any) is an electromagnetic disturbance in the form of waves propagated through the electromagnetic field according to electromagnetic laws."

Just as a force is exerted on a current-carrying wire in a magnetic field, so a charged particle such as an electron traveling in a magnetic field is deflected due to the force exerted on it. This force is proportional to the velocity of the charge and the magnitude of the magnetic field, but it acts perpedicular to the plane in which they both lie.

Nineteenth-century scientists attempted to understand the magnetic field in terms of its effects on a hypothetical medium, called the aether, which also served to propagate electromagnetic waves. The results of later experiments, however, indicated that no such medium exists.

Magnetism of an object

The physical cause of the magnetism of an object—as distinct from the production of magnetic fields by electrical currents—is attributed to what is called the "atomic magnetic dipole." If a wire is bent into a circular loop and current flows through it, it acts as a magnet with one side behaving as a north pole and the other, a south pole. From this observation stemmed the hypothesis that an iron magnet consists of similar currents on the atomic level, produced by circulating electrons.

Bar magnet dipole moment.

Maxwell's equations cannot be applied on the atomic scale without meeting serious contradictions. Many of these contradictions were resolved by applying the theory of quantum mechanics, developed by scientists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Based on this theory, the magnetic dipole (or magnetic moment) of an atom is thought to arise from two kinds of conceptual movements of electrons. The first is the "orbital motion" of electrons around the nucleus. This motion can be considered a current loop, resulting in what is called an orbital dipole magnetic moment along an axis that runs through the nucleus. The second, much stronger, source of electronic magnetic moment is due to a quantum mechanical property called the spin dipole magnetic moment, which is related to the quantum mechanical "spin" of electrons. (These movements of electrons are regarded as conceptual movements, as quantum mechanical theory states that electrons neither physically spin nor orbit the nucleus.)

The overall magnetic moment of an atom is the sum of all the magnetic moments of the individual electrons. For pairs of electrons in an atom, their magnetic moments (both orbital and spin dipole magnetic moments) oppose each other and cancel each other. If the atom has a completely filled electron shell or subshell, its electrons are all paired up and their magnetic moments completely cancel each other out. Only atoms with partially filled electron shells have a magnetic moment, the strength of which depends on the number of unpaired electrons.

Varieties of magnetic behavior

Depending on the configurations of electrons in their atoms, different elements exhibit differing types of magnetic behavior, as follows.

• Diamagnetism
• Paramagnetism
  • Molecular magnet
• Ferromagnetism
  • Antiferromagnetism
  • Ferrimagnetism
  • Metamagnetism
• Spin glass
• Superparamagnetism

A magnetic field contains energy, and physical systems stabilize into the configuration with the lowest energy. Therefore, when placed in a magnetic field, a magnetic dipole tends to align itself in opposed polarity to that field, thereby canceling the net field strength as much as possible and lowering the energy stored in that field to a minimum. For instance, two identical bar magnets normally line up North to South resulting in no net magnetic field, and resist any attempts to reorient them to point in the same direction. The energy required to reorient them in that configuration is then stored in the resulting magnetic field, which is double the strength of the field of each individual magnet. This is, of course, why a magnet used as a compass interacts with the Earth's magnetic field to indicate North and South.

Types of magnets

Electromagnets

Electromagnets are useful in cases where a magnet must be switched on or off; for instance, large cranes to lift junked automobiles.

For the case of electric current moving through a wire, the resulting field is directed according to the "right hand rule." If the right hand is used as a model, and the thumb of the right hand points along the wire from positive towards the negative side ("conventional current", the reverse of the direction of actual movement of electrons), then the magnetic field will wrap around the wire in the direction indicated by the fingers of the right hand. As can be seen geometrically, if a loop or helix of wire is formed such that the current is traveling in a circle, then all of the field lines in the center of the loop are directed in the same direction, resulting in a magnetic dipole whose strength depends on the current around the loop, or the current in the helix multiplied by the number of turns of wire. In the case of such a loop, if the fingers of the right hand are directed in the direction of conventional current flow (i.e. positive to negative, the opposite direction to the actual flow of electrons), the thumb will point in the direction corresponding to the North pole of the dipole.

Permanent magnets

Magnetic metallic elements

Many materials have unpaired electron spins, but the majority of these materials are paramagnetic. When the spins interact with each other in such a way that the spins align spontaneously, the materials are called ferromagnetic (what is often loosely termed "magnetic"). Due to the way their regular crystalline atomic structure causes their spins to interact, some metals are (ferro)magnetic when found in their natural states, as ores. These include iron ore (magnetite or lodestone), cobalt, and nickel, as well the rare earth metals gadolinium and dysprosium (when at a very low temperature). Such naturally occurring (ferro)magnets were used in the first experiments with magnetism. Technology has expanded the availability of magnetic materials to include various manmade products, all based, however, on naturally magnetic elements.

Composites

Ceramic or ferrite

Ceramic, or ferrite, magnets are made of a sintered composite of powdered iron oxide and barium/strontium carbonate ceramic. Due to the low cost of the materials and manufacturing methods, inexpensive magnets (or nonmagnetized ferromagnetic cores, for use in electronic component such as radio antennas, for example) of various shapes can be easily mass produced. The resulting magnets are noncorroding, but brittle and must be treated like other ceramics.

Alnico

Alnico magnets are made by casting or sintering a combination of aluminum, nickel and cobalt with iron and small amounts of other elements added to enhance the properties of the magnet. Sintering offers superior mechanical characteristics, whereas casting delivers higher magnetic fields and allows for the design of intricate shapes. Alnico magnets resist corrosion and have physical properties more forgiving than ferrite, but not quite as desirable as a metal.

Injection molded

Injection molded magnets are a composite of various types of resin and magnetic powders, allowing parts of complex shapes to be manufactured by injection molding. The physical and magnetic properties of the product depend on the raw materials, but are generally lower in magnetic strength and resemble plastics in their physical properties.

Flexible

Flexible magnets are similar to injection molded magnets, using a flexible resin or binder such as vinyl, and produced in flat strips or sheets. These magnets are lower in magnetic strength but can be very flexible, depending on the binder used.

Rare earth magnets

'Rare earth' (lanthanoid) elements have a partially occupied f electron shell (which can accommodate up to 14 electrons.) The spin of these electrons can be aligned, resulting in very strong magnetic fields, and therefore these elements are used in compact high-strength magnets where their higher price is not a factor.

Samarium cobalt

Samarium cobalt magnets are highly resistant to oxidation, with higher magnetic strength and temperature resistance than alnico or ceramic materials. Sintered samarium cobalt magnets are brittle and prone to chipping and cracking and may fracture when subjected to thermal shock.

Neodymium iron boron (NIB)

Neodymium magnets, more formally referred to as neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) magnets, have the highest magnetic field strength, but are inferior to samarium cobalt in resistance to oxidation and temperature. This type of magnet is expensive, due to both the cost of raw materials and licensing of the patents involved. This high cost limits their use to applications where such high strengths from a compact magnet are critical. Use of protective surface treatments such as gold, nickel, zinc and tin plating and epoxy resin coating can provide corrosion protection where required.

Single-molecule magnets (SMMs) and single-chain magnets (SCMs)

In the nineties it was discovered that certain molecules containing paramagnetic metal ions are capable of storing a magnetic moment at very low temperatures. These are very different from conventional magnets that store information at a "domain" level and theoretically could provide a far denser storage medium than conventional magnets. In this direction research on monolayers of SMMs is currently under way. Very briefly, the two main attributes of an SMM are:

1. a large ground state spin value (S), which is provided by ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic coupling between the paramagnetic metal centres.
2. a negative value of the anisotropy of the zero field splitting (D)

Most SMM's contain manganese, but can also be found with vanadium, iron, nickel and cobalt clusters. More recently it has been found that some chain systems can also display a magnetization which persists for long times at relatively higher temperatures. These systems have been called single-chain magnets.

Nano-structured magnets

Some nano-structured materials exhibit energy waves called magnons that coalesce into a common ground state in the manner of a Bose-Einstein condensate.

See results from NIST published April 2005, or

Force on a charged particle in a magnetic field

Just as a force is exerted on a current-carrying wire in a magnetic field, so a charged particle such as an electron traveling in a magnetic field is deflected due to the force exerted on it. This force is proportional to the velocity of the charge and the magnitude of the magnetic field, but it acts perpedicular to the plane in which they both lie.

In mathematical terms, if the charged particle moves through a magnetic field B, it feels a force F given by the cross product:

${\vec {F}}=q{\vec {v}}\times {\vec {B}}$

where

$q\,$ is the electric charge of the particle

${\vec {v}}\,$ is the velocity vector of the particle

${\vec {B}}\,$ is the magnetic field

Because this is a cross product, the force is perpendicular to both the motion of the particle and the magnetic field. It follows that the magnetic field does no work on the particle; it may change the direction of the particle's movement, but it cannot cause it to speed up or slow down.

One tool for determining the directions of the three vectors—the velocity of the charged particle, the magnetic field, and the force felt by the particle—is known as the "right hand rule." The index finger of the right hand is taken to represent "v"; the middle finger, "B"; and the thumb, "F". When these three fingers are held perpendicular to one another in a gun-like configuration (with the middle finger crossing under the index finger), they indicate the directions of the three vectors that they represent.

Units of electromagnetism

SI magnetism units

SI electromagnetism units

Symbol	Name of Quantity	Derived Units	Unit	Base Units
I	Current	ampere (SI base unit)	A	A = W/V = C/s
q	Electric charge, Quantity of electricity	coulomb	C	A·s
V	Potential difference	volt	V	J/C = kg·m2·s−3·A−1
R, Z, X	Resistance, Impedance, Reactance	ohm	Ω	V/A = kg·m2·s−3·A−2
ρ	Resistivity	ohm metre	Ω·m	kg·m3·s−3·A−2
P	Power, Electrical	watt	W	V·A = kg·m2·s−3
C	Capacitance	farad	F	C/V = kg−1·m−2·A2·s4
	Elastance	reciprocal farad	F−1	V/C = kg·m2·A−2·s−4
ε	Permittivity	farad per metre	F/m	kg−1·m−3·A2·s4
χe	Electric susceptibility	(dimensionless)	-	-
G, Y, B	Conductance, Admittance, Susceptance	siemens	S	Ω−1 = kg−1·m−2·s3·A2
σ	Conductivity	siemens per metre	S/m	kg−1·m−3·s3·A2
H	Auxiliary magnetic field, magnetic field intensity	ampere per metre	A/m	A·m−1
Φm	Magnetic flux	weber	Wb	V·s = kg·m2·s−2·A−1
B	Magnetic field, magnetic flux density, magnetic induction, magnetic field strength	tesla	T	Wb/m2 = kg·s−2·A−1
	Reluctance	ampere-turns per weber	A/Wb	kg−1·m−2·s2·A2
L	Inductance	henry	H	Wb/A = V·s/A = kg·m2·s−2·A−2
μ	Permeability	henry per metre	H/m	kg·m·s−2·A−2
χm	Magnetic susceptibility	(dimensionless)	-	-

Other magnetism units

• gauss-The gauss, abbreviated as G, is the cgs unit of magnetic flux density or magnetic induction (B).
• oersted-The oersted is the CGS unit of magnetic field strength.
• maxwell-is the unit for the magnetic flux.

See also

• Magnet
• Electromagnetism
• Magnetic field
• Michael Faraday
• Micromagnetism
• James Clerk Maxwell

Magnetic states

diamagnetism – superdiamagnetism – paramagnetism – superparamagnetism – ferromagnetism – antiferromagnetism – ferrimagnetism – metamagnetism – spin glass

External links

• On the Magnet, 1600 First scientific book on magnetism by the father of electrical engineering. Full English text, full text search.
• http://www.wondermagnet.com/magfaq.html Info on electromagnetism and homemade projects & experiments.
• http://www.magnetostatics.us/photo.htm - Real images of magnetic flux.
• http://www.scientiapress.com/trbc/trbc.htm Theory of the Red Blood Cells (they fit 19 criteria for the animal magnetoreceptor).
• http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/magnet_university/magnet_university.htm Resources from the fundamental theory of magnetism to advanced applications of magnetic materials.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Griffiths, David J. (1998). Introduction to Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). Prentice Hall. ISBN 013805326X. 
• Tipler, Paul (2004). Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Electricity, Magnetism, Light, and Elementary Modern Physics (5th ed.). W. H. Freeman. ISBN 0716708108. 

Footnotes

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Magnetism  ^history
• Maxwell's_equations  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Magnetism"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.