Magnetism
Magnets – Known facts
o Earth behaves as a magnet.
o When a bar magnet is freely suspended, it points to the NS direction.
o When two North poles are brought together, they repel each other. Similar effect is observed for South pole also
o
However, when a North pole and South
pole is brought together, they attract each other
o Magnetic monopoles do not exists which means we cannot have a magnet with North pole alone or South pole alone
o If a bar magnet is broken in two halves, we get two similar bar magnets with weaker properties
o With the help of iron and its alloys, we can make magnets.
Properties of a magnet
- The bar magnet has two poles.
- One pole is designated as north pole and other as south pole.
- When suspended freely, these poles point approximately towards the geographic north and south poles.
- Like poles repel each other and unlike poles attract each other.
- The poles of a magnet can never be separated.