So, Magnets

[Question No.1629348]

So me and my Friend were in class today, and were wondering how do Magnets work? Why can they repel and pull metals?

[Anonymous No.1629356]

magnetic feilds

[Question No.1629380]

Hurr thats a good one. What causes the fields though? I remember that when a magnet is passed over a wire it creates electricity, and when wire is round up and electricity is passes through it then it creates a magnet. So then why can little pieces of metal create magnetic fields without electricity if there interlinked?

[Anonymous No.1629387]

>>1629380
>there
Because high school was obviously hard for you.

[Anonymous No.1629405]

Magnetics generate magnetic fields because the atoms within the magnet have unpaired electrons, and they align in the same direction, which causes the observed macroscopic effects. Take physics, the long version is the only way to understand.

[Question No.1629420]

I'm taking it next year. In AP Chem at the moment so was just curious. Thank you =D

[Anonymous No.1629424]

electrons have a property called charge which is distinct from magnetism

a moving electron, however, creates a magnetic field - this is how all magnetic fields are made

in a solid magnet, though, you may wonder how it is that these electrons are moving in order to create the magnetic field... the answer is that all electrons have spin - ergo spinning electrons that are otherwise stationary will also create a magnetic field

All atoms have something called an orbital... without going in to any detail, orbitals are always populated by two electrons, one spinning up and one spinning down - spin up and spin down create opposing magnetic fields, ergo a magnetic field with two poles

in a magnet, all or a significant portion of, all of these spin up and spin down electrons are oriented in the same direction so that the small magnetic field generated by a single spinning electron is amplified by trillions and trillions of electrons working together and so you get a magnetic field that is detectable at the macro level where you and I can interact with it. In materials that are not magnetic, the electrons are oriented in all different directions and thus all magnetic fields cancel each other out.

The reason that a permanent magnet can turn any metal in to a magnet by touching it is because the magnetic field will temporarily force all of these electrons to orient in the same direction... also, magnets can make the electrons move in other ways so as to create electrical current when delocalized electrons are moving together through a conductive metal, thus also inducing another magnetic field.

wrote this in two seconds so excuse me if I said something that's not exactly right, but that's the general idea.

[Question No.1629466]

So what about Monopoles? Can they exist or do we have to change the model of the atom for it to exist?

[Griffin No.1629505]

question made short.... Magnets: how do they work?

[Zombie No.1629541]

Question in simplified terms.... Magnets: How do they work?

[Anonymous No.1629560]

>>1629466
Nothing in physics says that monopoles cannot exist, we just have not found one yet, nor can we make one.

[Question No.1629564]

Pretty much, was trying to not sound like a troll when I posted it though.

[Question No.1629582]

But the two electrons were needed in the orbital to make a magnet. In the case of a monopole, would there only be one? Or if there was more than one, would the have to be spin the same way?

[Dr. Trintignant !Avug4yq7Ns No.1629891]

>>1629582
>>1629560

Actually, the bits of Maxwell's equations governing magnetic fields claim that the flux through any closed surface is zero. This would prohibit monopoles.

Though, yeah, if you throw Maxwell out (and derived, updated versions) there's nothing in Physics that says they can't exist. Not many of us are ready to do that yet, though. :D

[Anonymous No.1630076]

>>1629891
it's true, he's not lying.