What can iron filings sprinkled on a piece of paper demonstrate?
Answers
What does the pattern made by the iron particles indicate?
You learned in a previous experiment that no matter how many pieces you cut a magnet into, each piece is still a magnet. Even if you shred a magnet into particles the size of sand, each tiny grain is a magnet with a north pole and a south pole. When these magnetized particles are sprinkled over the magnet in Box A, the resulting pattern shows the magnetic field around a single magnet. We can see that the force of the magnet is the strongest at the two ends because more iron particles are concentrated in these areas. The magnetic lines of flux flow from one end to the other.
How do you explain what is occurring?
To understand what is happening, recall from a previous experiment that a magnet allowed to stand freely, like a compass needle, will point to the north in response to the earths magnetic field unless it is near a strong magnetic. If the compass is near a strong bar magnet, the opposite poles of the magnets are attracted to each other. We can use this knowledge to identify the magnetic field of a magnet by placing a compass at various locations around the bar magnet and observing where the compass needle points. If the compass is far away from the bar magnet the compass will always point north because it is not in the bar magnets magnetic field. As it gets closer to the magnet, the compass begins to point more and more toward the magnet as a result of the force, or the magnetic field, of the magnet. The compass needle aligns itself with the magnetic flux lines of the magnet.
Answer:
C. The pattern of the magnetic field lines