Alexandria Higher Institute of Engineering & Technology

Magnetic field and force

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS A MAGNETIC FIELD?

HOW DO WE MEASURE MAGNETIC FIELDS?

WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD?

APPLICATIONS OF MAGNETIC FIELD

Magnetic field and force

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Introduction :-
Humans have long known of the existence of magnetic forces. Compasses

relying on the magnetic field of the earth have been used for centuries as

navigational aids. Until the nineteenth century, however, the cause and source

of magnetic fields remained a mystery. Even after scientists began to learn

about magnetism, the field remained complete separate from the study of

electricity; at the time, it seemed inconceivable that the two could be related

in any way. The connection between the two, and the resultant study of

electromagnetism, is quite counterintuitive. For this reason, it is important to

learn a little history of the development of magnetism before diving into the

physical theory behind the complex phenomenon.

We begin by going through the history behind the discovery of the relation

between electricity and magnetism, and then examine some basic principles

of magnetic fields that can be derived from these early experiments. Next,

we'll take a theoretical approach to the topic, deriving the existence of

magnetic fields from the study of relativity.

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What is a magnetic field?

A magnetic field is a picture that we use as a tool to describe how
the magnetic force is distributed in the space around and within something
magnetic. 

When we speak of the force due to a magnet (or any force for that matter) it
has to be on something. Strictly speaking a force vector field tells us the
magnitude and direction of a force on a small test particle at any point.

With the electric force the small test particle we use is the electron. It turns
out that there is no equivalent particle for the magnetic force. The
term magnetic monopole is given to such a particle. As far as we know,
magnetic monopoles don't exist in nature and all magnetic field sources are
dipolar in nature.

Most of us have some familiarity with everyday magnetic objects and

recognize that there can be forces between them. We understand that magnets
have two poles and that depending on the orientation of two magnets there
can be attraction (opposite poles) or repulsion (similar poles). We recognize
that there is some region extending around a magnet where this happens. The
magnetic field describes this region.

There are two different ways that a magnetic field is typically illustrated: 

These descriptions are presented in terms of a 2D slice of the magnetic field

and as such could be drawn on a piece of paper. In reality, the magnetic field
extends through 3D space, though for gaining a basic understanding of
magnetic fields and solving many problems a 2D description is sufficient.
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1. The magnetic field is described mathematically as a vector field. This

vector field can be plotted directly as a set of many vectors drawn on a grid.
Each vector points in the direction that a compass would point and has length
dependent on the strength of the magnetic force. 
Arranging many small compasses in a grid pattern and placing the grid in a
magnetic field illustrates this technique. The only difference here is that a
compass doesn't indicate the strength of a field.

Vector field plot for a bar magnet

2. An alternative way to represent the information contained within a

vector field is with the use of field lines. Here we dispense with the grid
pattern and connect the vectors with smooth lines. We can draw as many
lines as we want.

Field line plot for a bar magnet

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The field-line description has some useful properties:

o Magnetic field lines never cross.

o Magnetic field lines naturally bunch together in regions where

the magnetic field is the strongest. This means that the density of field lines

indicates the strength of the field.

o Magnetic field lines don't start or stop anywhere, they always

make closed loops and will continue inside a magnetic material (though

sometimes they are not drawn this way).

o We require a way to indicate the direction of the field. This is

usually done by drawing arrowheads along the lines. Sometimes arrowheads

are not drawn and the direction must be indicated in some other way. For

historical reasons the convention is to label one region 'north' and another

'south' and draw field lines only from these 'poles'. The field is assumed to

follow the lines from north to south. 'N' and 'S' labels are usually placed on

the ends of a magnetic field source, although strictly this is arbitrary and

there is nothing special about these locations. 

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o Field lines can be visualized quite easily in the real world. This is

commonly done with iron filings dropped on a surface near something

magnetic. Each filing behaves like a tiny magnet with a north and south pole.

The filings naturally separate from each other because similar poles repel

each other. The result is a pattern that resembles field lines. While the general

pattern will always be the same, the exact position and density of lines of

filings depends on how the filings happened to fall, their size and magnetic

properties.

Magnetic field lines around a bar magnet visualized using iron filings.
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How do we measure magnetic fields?

Because a magnetic field is a vector quantity, there are two aspects we need

to measure to describe it; the strength and direction.

The direction is easy to measure. We can use a magnetic compass which lines

up with the field. Magnetic compasses have been used for navigation (using

the Earth's magnetic field) since the 11ᵗʰ century.

Interestingly, measuring the strength is considerably more difficult.

Practical magnetometers only came available in the 19ᵗʰ century. Most of

these magnetometers work by exploiting the force an electron feels as it

moves through a magnetic field.

3. Very accurate measurement of small magnetic fields has only been

practical since the discovery in 1988 of giant magneto resistance in specially
layered materials. This discovery in fundamental physics was quickly applied
to the magnetic hard-disk technology used for storing data in computers. This
lead to a thousand-fold increase in data storage capacity in just a few years
immediately following the implementation of the technology
(0.1 to 100 Gbit /inch2) In 2007 Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg were awarded
the Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery.
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In the SI system, the magnetic field is measured in tesla (symbol T,

named after Nikola Tesla). The Tesla is defined in terms of how much
force is applied to a moving charge due to the field. A small
refrigerator magnet produces a field of around 0.001 T  and the
Earth's field is about 5. 10−5 T. An alternative measurement is also often
used, the Gauss (G).

There is a simple conversion factor, 1 T = 104 G Gauss is often used

because 1 Tesla is a very large field.

In equations the magnitude of the magnetic field is given the symbol BBB.

You may also see a quantity called the magnetic field strength which is given
the symbol H. Both B and H have the same units, but H takes into account
the effect of magnetic fields being concentrated by magnetic materials. For
simple problems taking place in air you won't need to worry about this
distinction.
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What is the origin of the magnetic field?

Magnetic fields occur whenever charge is in motion. As more charge is put
in more motion, the strength of a magnetic field increases.

Magnetism and magnetic fields are one aspect of the electromagnetic force,
one of the four fundamental forces of nature.

There are two basic ways which we can arrange for charge to be in motion
and generate a useful magnetic field:

We make a current flow through a wire, for example by connecting it to a

battery. As we increase the current (amount of charge in motion) the field
increases proportionally. As we move further away from the wire, the field
we see drops off proportionally with the distance. This is described
by Ampere's law. Simplified to tell us the magnetic field at a distance  r 
from a long straight wire carrying current  I  the equation is
μ 0 ​I
B= 2 πr

Here μ0  is a special constant known as the permeability of free space.

μ0=4π⋅10−7 T⋅m/A. Some materials have the ability to concentrate magnetic
fields, this is described by those materials having higher permeability.
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Since the magnetic field is a vector, we also need to know the direction.
For conventional current flowing through a straight wire this can be found
by the right-hand-grip-rule. To use this rule imagine gripping your right hand
around the wire with your thumb pointing in the direction of the current. The
fingers show the direction of the magnetic field which wraps around the
wire. 

The right-hand-grip-rule is a useful shortcut, but does have a more

fundamental origin as the vector cross product. It is also known as the coffee-
mug rule or the corkscrew-rule.

Right-hand-grip rule used to find the direction of the magnetic field (B) based
on the direction of a current (I)

2. We can exploit the fact that electrons (which are charged) appear 

For understanding the magnetic fields around magnets, it is mostly sufficient
to think of an electron like a solid charged ball spinning around a solid
nucleus. However, it does lead to a misconception that different electrons
could be spinning around at many different speeds and produce many
different magnetic fields. It turns out that this is not true; there are only a few
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possible values of the angular momentum of the electron which are described

by the quantum structure of the atom.

to have some motion around the nuclei of atoms. This is how permanent
magnets work. As we know from experience, only some 'special' materials
can be made into magnets and some magnets are much stronger than others.
So some specific conditions must be required:

o Although atoms often have many electrons, they mostly 'pair up'
in such a way that the overall magnetic field of a pair cancels out. Two
electrons paired in this way are said to have opposite spin. So if we want
something to be magnetic we need atoms that have one or more unpaired
electrons with the same spin. Iron for example is a 'special' material that has
four such electrons and therefore is good for making magnets out of. 
o Even a tiny piece of material contains billions of atoms. If they
are all randomly orientated the overall field will cancel out, regardless of how
many unpaired electrons the material has. The material has to be stable
enough at room temperature to allow an overall preferred orientation to be
established. If established permanently then we have a permanent magnet,
also known as a ferromagnet.
o Some materials can only become sufficiently well ordered to be
magnetic when in the presence of an external magnetic field. The external
field serves to line all the electron spins up, but this alignment disappears
once the external field is removed. These kinds of materials are known
as paramagnetic.
The metal of a refrigerator door is an example of a paramagnet. The
refrigerator door itself is not magnetic, but behaves like a magnet when a
refrigerator magnet is placed on it. Both then attract each other strongly
enough to easily keep in place a shopping list, sandwiched between the two.
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Applications of Magnetic Field :

1- Electromagnets

Electromagnets are magnets where the magnetic field is produced by an

electric current. They are made up of a large number of turns of wire in
order to create strong magnetic fields. Electromagnets can be switched
on and off and are therefore flexible means of displacing heavy metallic
objects from one point to another. Electromagnets have many uses in
industry.

2- Electric Motors

A) DC motor principle
A DC motor is based on the idea that if a current carrying loop is
situated in a magnetic field, magnetic forces act on the loop. The
magnetic field is that of a static permanent magnet and is called the
stator (from static). The force acting on the loop gives it a movement of
rotation hence the name rotor (from rotation) for the loop.
B) AC motor principle
An AC motor is made up of a stator which is a group of electromagnets
designed to produce a rotating magnetic field when fed with AC
(alternating current). Inside the stator there is a rotor made up of
suspended conductors. Since the magnetic field produced by the stator
is rotating, it is therefore changing (magnetic field is a vector quantity)
which according to Faraday's law it produces an electric current in the
rotor. The current in the rotor in turn produces a magnetic field which
according to Lenz's law opposes the magnetic field that produced it
which is the magnetic field in the stator.
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Hence the rotor tends to try to eliminate the difference between the
speeds of rotation of the field produced by the stator and the speed of
the rotor since this difference in speed gives rise to induced emf in the
rotor. However, the rotor never catches up with the rotating field
produced by the stator. Hence a sustained rotation of the rotor.

3- Electric Generators

An electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy into

electrical energy using the principle of electromagnetic induction
discovered by Michael Faraday: a difference of voltage is created
between the end of a electric conductor moving in a magnetic field.
This difference of voltage can be used to move electric charges thus
generating an electric current.
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Refrances :
[1] Newton Henry Black, Harvey N. Davis (1913) Practical Physics, The
MacMillan Co., USA, p. 242, fig. 200 (public domain)

[2] UK Success Stories in Industrial Mathematics. Philip J. Aston, Anthony J.

Mulholland, Katherine M.M. Tant. Springer, Feb 4, 2016

[3] This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. This file is licensed under
the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International, 3.0
Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.