A magnet (from Greek magntis lthos, "Magnesian stone") is a material or object

that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable
property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, and attracts
or repels other magnets.
A permanent magnet is an object made from a material that is magnetized and creates its own
persistent magnetic field. An everyday example is a refrigerator magnet used to hold notes on a
refrigerator door. Materials that can be magnetized, which are also the ones that are strongly
attracted to a magnet, are called ferromagnetic (or ferrimagnetic). These include iron, nickel, cobalt,
some alloys of rare earth metals, and some naturally occurring minerals such as lodestone. Although
ferromagnetic (and ferrimagnetic) materials are the only ones attracted to a magnet strongly enough
to be commonly considered magnetic, all other substances respond weakly to a magnetic field, by
one of several other types of magnetism.
Ferromagnetic materials can be divided into magnetically "soft" materials like annealed iron, which
can be magnetized but do not tend to stay magnetized, and magnetically "hard" materials, which do.
Permanent magnets are made from "hard" ferromagnetic materials such as alnico and ferrite that
are subjected to special processing in a powerful magnetic field during manufacture, to align their
internal microcrystalline structure, making them very hard to demagnetize. To demagnetize a
saturated magnet, a certain magnetic field must be applied, and this threshold depends
on coercivity of the respective material. "Hard" materials have high coercivity, whereas "soft"
materials have low coercivity.
An electromagnet is made from a coil of wire that acts as a magnet when an electric current passes
through it but stops being a magnet when the current stops. Often, the coil is wrapped around
a core of "soft" ferromagnetic material such as steel, which greatly enhances the magnetic field
produced by the coil.
The overall strength of a magnet is measured by its magnetic moment or, alternatively, the
total magnetic flux it produces. The local strength of magnetism in a material is measured by
its magnetization.
Contents
[hide]

1 Discovery and development

2 Physics
o

2.1 Magnetic field

2.2 Magnetic moment

2.3 Magnetization

2.4 Modelling magnets

2.5 Pole naming conventions

2.6 Magnetic materials

3 Common uses

4 Medical issues and safety

5 Magnetizing ferromagnets

6 Demagnetizing ferromagnets

7 Types of permanent magnets

o

7.1 Magnetic metallic elements

7.2 Composites

7.3 Rare-earth magnets

7.4 Single-molecule magnets (SMMs) and single-chain magnets (SCMs)

7.5 Nano-structured magnets

7.6 Costs

7.7 Temperature

8 Electromagnets

9 Units and calculations

o

9.1 Fields of a magnet

9.2 Calculating the magnetic force

9.2.1 Pull force of a single magnet

9.2.2 Force between two magnetic poles

9.2.3 Force between two nearby magnetized surfaces of area A

9.2.4 Force between two bar magnets

9.2.5 Force between two cylindrical magnets

10 See also

11 Notes

12 References

13 External links

Discovery and development[edit]

Main article: History of electromagnetism
See also: Magnetism history
Ancient people learned about magnetism from lodestones, naturally magnetized pieces of iron ore.
They are naturally created magnets, which attract pieces of iron. The word magnet in Greek meant
"stone from Magnesia",[1] a part of ancient Greece where lodestones were found. Lodestones,
suspended so they could turn, were the first magnetic compasses. The earliest known surviving
descriptions of magnets and their properties are from Greece, India, and China around 2500 years
ago.[2][3][4] The properties oflodestones and their affinity for iron were written of by Pliny the Elder in his
encyclopedia Naturalis Historia.[5]
By the 12th to 13th centuries AD, magnetic compasses were used in navigation in China, Europe,
and elsewhere.[6]

Physics[edit]
Magnetic field[edit]

Iron filings that have oriented in the magnetic field produced by a bar magnet

Main article: Magnetic field

The magnetic flux density (also called magnetic B field or just magnetic field, usually denoted B) is
a vector field. The magnetic B field vector at a given point in space is specified by two properties:
1. Its direction, which is along the orientation of a compass needle.

2. Its magnitude (also called strength), which is proportional to how strongly the compass
needle orients along that direction.
In SI units, the strength of the magnetic B field is given in teslas.[7]

Magnetic moment[edit]
Main article: Magnetic moment
A magnet's magnetic moment (also called magnetic dipole moment and usually denoted ) is
a vector that characterizes the magnet's overall magnetic properties. For a bar magnet, the direction
of the magnetic moment points from the magnet's south pole to its north pole, [8] and the magnitude
relates to how strong and how far apart these poles are. In SI units, the magnetic moment is
specified in terms of Am2 (amperes times meters squared).
A magnet both produces its own magnetic field and responds to magnetic fields. The strength of the
magnetic field it produces is at any given point proportional to the magnitude of its magnetic
moment. In addition, when the magnet is put into an external magnetic field, produced by a different
source, it is subject to a torque tending to orient the magnetic moment parallel to the field.[9] The
amount of this torque is proportional both to the magnetic moment and the external field. A magnet
may also be subject to a force driving it in one direction or another, according to the positions and
orientations of the magnet and source. If the field is uniform in space, the magnet is subject to no net
force, although it is subject to a torque.[10]
A wire in the shape of a circle with area A and carrying current I is a magnet, with a magnetic
moment of magnitude equal to IA.

Magnetization[edit]
Main article: Magnetization
The magnetization of a magnetized material is the local value of its magnetic moment per unit
volume, usually denoted M, with units A/m.[11] It is a vector field, rather than just a vector (like the
magnetic moment), because different areas in a magnet can be magnetized with different directions
and strengths (for example, because of domains, see below). A good bar magnet may have a
magnetic moment of magnitude 0.1 Am2 and a volume of 1 cm3, or 1106 m3, and therefore an
average magnetization magnitude is 100,000 A/m. Iron can have a magnetization of around a million
amperes per meter. Such a large value explains why iron magnets are so effective at producing
magnetic fields.

Modelling magnets[edit]

Field of a cylindrical bar magnet calculated with Ampre's model

See also: Two definitions of moment

Two different models exist for magnets: magnetic poles and atomic currents.
Although for many purposes it is convenient to think of a magnet as having distinct north and south
magnetic poles, the concept of poles should not be taken literally: it is merely a way of referring to
the two different ends of a magnet. The magnet does not have distinct north or south particles on
opposing sides. If a bar magnet is broken into two pieces, in an attempt to separate the north and
south poles, the result will be two bar magnets, each of which has both a north and south pole.
However, a version of the magnetic-pole approach is used by professional magneticians to design
permanent magnets.[citation needed]
In this approach, the divergence of the magnetization M inside a magnet and the surface normal
component Mn are treated as a distribution of magnetic monopoles. This is a mathematical
convenience and does not imply that there are actually monopoles in the magnet. If the magneticpole distribution is known, then the pole model gives the magnetic field H. Outside the magnet, the
field B is proportional to H, while inside the magnetization must be added to H. An extension of this
method that allows for internal magnetic charges is used in theories of ferromagnetism.
Another model is the Ampre model, where all magnetization is due to the effect of microscopic, or
atomic, circular bound currents, also called Amprian currents, throughout the material. For a
uniformly magnetized cylindrical bar magnet, the net effect of the microscopic bound currents is to
make the magnet behave as if there is a macroscopic sheet of electric current flowing around the
surface, with local flow direction normal to the cylinder axis.[12] Microscopic currents in atoms inside
the material are generally canceled by currents in neighboring atoms, so only the surface makes a
net contribution; shaving off the outer layer of a magnet will not destroy its magnetic field, but will
leave a new surface of uncancelled currents from the circular currents throughout the material.
[13]

The right-hand rule tells which direction the current flows.

Pole naming conventions[edit]

The north pole of a magnet is defined as the pole that, when the magnet is freely suspended, points
towards the Earth's North Magnetic Pole in the Arctic. Since opposite poles (north and south) attract,

the North Magnetic Pole is actually the south pole of the Earth's magnetic field.[14][15][16][17] As a practical
matter, to tell which pole of a magnet is north and which is south, it is not necessary to use the
Earth's magnetic field at all. For example, one method would be to compare it to an electromagnet,
whose poles can be identified by the right-hand rule. The magnetic field lines of a magnet are
considered by convention to emerge from the magnet's north pole and reenter at the south pole. [17]

Magnetic materials[edit]
Main article: Magnetism
The term magnet is typically reserved for objects that produce their own persistent magnetic field
even in the absence of an applied magnetic field. Only certain classes of materials can do this. Most
materials, however, produce a magnetic field in response to an applied magnetic field - a
phenomenon known as magnetism. There are several types of magnetism, and all materials exhibit
at least one of them.
The overall magnetic behavior of a material can vary widely, depending on the structure of the
material, particularly on its electron configuration. Several forms of magnetic behavior have been
observed in different materials, including:

Ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic materials are the ones normally thought of as magnetic;
they are attracted to a magnet strongly enough that the attraction can be felt. These materials
are the only ones that can retain magnetization and become magnets; a common example is a
traditional refrigerator magnet. Ferrimagnetic materials, which include ferrites and the oldest
magnetic materials magnetite and lodestone, are similar to but weaker than ferromagnetics. The
difference between ferro- and ferrimagnetic materials is related to their microscopic structure, as
explained in Magnetism.

Paramagnetic substances, such as platinum, aluminum, and oxygen, are weakly attracted to
either pole of a magnet. This attraction is hundreds of thousands of times weaker than that of
ferromagnetic materials, so it can only be detected by using sensitive instruments or using
extremely strong magnets. Magnetic ferrofluids, although they are made of tiny ferromagnetic
particles suspended in liquid, are sometimes considered paramagnetic since they cannot be
magnetized.

Diamagnetic means repelled by both poles. Compared to paramagnetic and ferromagnetic

substances, diamagnetic substances, such as carbon, copper, water, and plastic, are even more
weakly repelled by a magnet. The permeability of diamagnetic materials is less than
the permeability of a vacuum. All substances not possessing one of the other types of
magnetism are diamagnetic; this includes most substances. Although force on a diamagnetic
object from an ordinary magnet is far too weak to be felt, using extremely
strong superconducting magnets, diamagnetic objects such as pieces of lead and even

mice[18] can be levitated, so they float in mid-air. Superconductors repel magnetic fields from their
interior and are strongly diamagnetic.
There are various other types of magnetism, such as spin
glass, superparamagnetism, superdiamagnetism, and metamagnetism.

Common uses[edit]

Hard disk drives record data on a thin magnetic coating

Magnetic hand separator for heavy minerals

Magnetic recording media: VHS tapes contain a reel of magnetic tape. The information that
makes up the video and sound is encoded on the magnetic coating on the tape. Commonaudio
cassettes also rely on magnetic tape. Similarly, in computers, floppy disks and hard disks record
data on a thin magnetic coating.[19]

Credit, debit, and automatic teller machine cards: All of these cards have a magnetic strip on
one side. This strip encodes the information to contact an individual's financial institution and
connect with their account(s).[20]

Common televisions and computer monitors: TV and computer screens containing a cathode
ray tube employ an electromagnet to guide electrons to the screen.[21] Plasma
screens andLCDs use different technologies.

Speakers and microphones: Most speakers employ a permanent magnet and a currentcarrying coil to convert electric energy (the signal) into mechanical energy (movement that
creates the sound). The coil is wrapped around a bobbin attached to the speaker cone and
carries the signal as changing current that interacts with the field of the permanent magnet.
The voice coil feels a magnetic force and in response, moves the cone and pressurizes the
neighboring air, thus generating sound. Dynamic microphones employ the same concept, but in
reverse. A microphone has a diaphragm or membrane attached to a coil of wire. The coil rests
inside a specially shaped magnet. When sound vibrates the membrane, the coil is vibrated as
well. As the coil moves through the magnetic field, a voltage is induced across the coil. This
voltage drives a current in the wire that is characteristic of the original sound.

Electric guitars use magnetic pickups to transduce the vibration of guitar strings into electric
current that can then be amplified. This is different from the principle behind the speaker and
dynamic microphone because the vibrations are sensed directly by the magnet, and a
diaphragm is not employed. The Hammond organ used a similar principle, with
rotating tonewheels instead of strings.

Electric motors and generators: Some electric motors rely upon a combination of an
electromagnet and a permanent magnet, and, much like loudspeakers, they convert electric
energy into mechanical energy. A generator is the reverse: it converts mechanical energy into
electric energy by moving a conductor through a magnetic field.

Medicine: Hospitals use magnetic resonance imaging to spot problems in a patient's organs
without invasive surgery.

Chemistry: Chemists use nuclear magnetic resonance to characterize synthesized

compounds.

Chucks are used in the metalworking field to hold objects. Magnets are also used in other
types of fastening devices, such as the magnetic base, the magnetic clamp and the refrigerator
magnet.

Compasses: A compass (or mariner's compass) is a magnetized pointer free to align itself
with a magnetic field, most commonly Earth's magnetic field.

Art: Vinyl magnet sheets may be attached to paintings, photographs, and other ornamental
articles, allowing them to be attached to refrigerators and other metal surfaces. Objects and
paint can be applied directly to the magnet surface to create collage pieces of art. Magnetic art
is portable, inexpensive and easy to create. Vinyl magnetic art is not for the refrigerator

anymore. Colorful metal magnetic boards, strips, doors, microwave ovens, dishwashers, cars,
metal I beams, and any metal surface can be receptive of magnetic vinyl art. Being a relatively
new media for art, the creative uses for this material is just beginning.

Science projects: Many topic questions are based on magnets, including the repulsion of
current-carrying wires, the effect of temperature, and motors involving magnets. [22]

Magnets have many uses in toys. M-tic uses magnetic rods connected to metal spheres for construction. Note
the geodesic pyramid

Toys: Given their ability to counteract the force of gravity at close range, magnets are often
employed in children's toys, such as the Magnet Space Wheel and Levitron, to amusing effect.

Refrigerator magnets are used to adorn kitchens, as a souvenir, or simply to hold a note or
photo to the refrigerator door.

Magnets can be used to make jewelry. Necklaces and bracelets can have a magnetic clasp,
or may be constructed entirely from a linked series of magnets and ferrous beads.

Magnets can pick up magnetic items (iron nails, staples, tacks, paper clips) that are either
too small, too hard to reach, or too thin for fingers to hold. Some screwdrivers are magnetized
for this purpose.

Magnets can be used in scrap and salvage operations to separate magnetic metals (iron,
cobalt, and nickel) from non-magnetic metals (aluminum, non-ferrous alloys, etc.). The same
idea can be used in the so-called "magnet test", in which an auto body is inspected with a
magnet to detect areas repaired using fiberglass or plastic putty.

Magnetic levitation transport, or maglev, is a form of transportation that suspends, guides

and propels vehicles (especially trains) through electromagnetic force. The maximum recorded
speed of a maglev train is 581 kilometers per hour (361 mph).

Magnets may be used to serve as a fail-safe device for some cable connections. For
example, the power cords of some laptops are magnetic to prevent accidental damage to the
port when tripped over. The MagSafepower connection to the Apple MacBook is one such
example.