A student fixes a sheet of white paper on a drawing board. He places a bar magnet in the centre of it. He…
A student fixes a sheet of white paper on a drawing board. He places a bar magnet in the centre of it. He sprinkles some iron filings uniformly around the bar magnet. Then he taps the drawing board gently and observes that the iron filings arrange themselves in a particular pattern.
(a) Why do iron filings arrange in a particular pattern ?
(b) What does the crowding of iron filings at the ends of the magnet indicate ?
(c) What do the lines, along which the iron filings align, represent ?
(d) If the student places a cardboard horizontally in a current carrying solenoid and repeats the above activity, in what pattern would the iron filings arrange ? State the conclusion drawn about the magnetic field based on the observed pattern of the lines.
Solution
(a) Because a magnetic field exists around the bar magnet
(b) Strength of the magnetic field is maximum near the poles of the magnet
(c) The lines represent the magnetic field lines
(d) Equidistant parallel lines, magnetic field inside the solenoid is uniform