Physics Investigatory Project 2024-25: Earth's Magnetic Field Using A Compass Needle and Bar Magnet

Physics
investigatory project
2024-25
Earth’s magnetic field using
A compass needle and bar
magnet
index
 Aim
 Introduction
 Apparatus
 Theory
 Diagram
 Observation
 conclusion
Bar magnet-compass:
A magnetic field is invisible, but it can be detected using a
magnetic compass. A compass contains a small bar
magnet on a pivot so that it can rotate. The compass
needle points in the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field
or the magnetic field of the magnet.
Magnetic fields can be mapped out using small plotting
compasses:
• Place the plotting compass near the magnet on a piece
of paper.
• Mark the direction of the compass needle points.
• Move the plotting compass to many different positions
in the magnetic field, marking the needle direction
each time.
• Join the points to show the field lines.
• The needle of a plotting compass points to the south
pole of the magnet.
THE EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD:
The behaviour of a compass shows that the earth has a
magnetic field. Scientists believe that this field is produced
by convection currents in the Earth’s core, which is made
from iron and nickel. When a plotting compass is placed in
the Earth’s magnetic field, the north pole of the compass
will line up with the Earth’s magnetic field lines and point to
the magnetic south.
DRAWING A MAGNETIC FIELD
The diagram shows the magnetic field around a bar magnet.
The diagram shows these key features:

• The magnetic field lines never cross each other.
• The closer the lines, the stronger the magnetic field.
• The lines have arrowheads to show the direction of
force exerted by a magnetic north pole.
• The arrowheads point from the North Pole of the
magnet to the South Pole.
TANGENT GALVANOMETER
Earth’s magnetic field also known as the geomagnetic field,
is the magnetic field that extends from the earth’s interior
to where it meets the solar wind, a stream of charged
particles emanating from the sun. Its magnitude at the
Earth’s surface ranges from 25 to 65 micro teslas 90.23 to
0.65 gauss). Roughly speaking it is the field of magnetic
dipole currently tilted at an angle of about 10 degrees with
respect to Earth’s rotational axis as if these were a bar
magnet placed at that angle at the centre of the Earth.
Unlike a bar magnet, however Earth’s magnetic field
changes over time because it is generated by a
geodynamic.
The North and South magnetic poles wander widely, but
sufficiently slowly for ordinary compasses to remain useful
for navigation. However at irregular intervals averaging
several hundred, thousand years, the Earth’s field reverses
and the North and South magnetic poles relatively abruptly
switch places. These reversals of the geomagnetic poles
leave a record in rocks that are of value to paleomagnetists
in calculating geomagnetic fields in the past. Such
information in turn is helpful in studying the motions of
continents and ocean floors in the process of plate
tectonics. The magnetosphere is the region above the
ionosphere and extends several tens of thousands of
kilometres into space, protecting the earth from the
charged particles of the solar wind and cosmic rays that
would otherwise strip away the upper atmosphere
including the ozone layer one stripping mechanism is for
gas to be caught in bubbles of magnetic field which are
ripped off by solar winds.
The intensity of the field is often measured in gauss (G),
but is generally reported in nanoteslas (nT), with 1G =
100,000nT. A nanotesla is also referred to as a gamma (γ).
The tesla is the SI unit of the magnetic field, B. The field
ranges between approximately 25000 and 65000 nT (0.25-
0.65G).
Near the surface of the Earth, its magnetic field can be
closely approximated by the field of a magnetic dipole
positioned at the centre of the earth and tilted at an angle
of about 10° with respect to the rotational axis of the Earth.
The dipole is roughly equivalent to a powerful bar magnet,
with its South Pole pointing towards the geomagnetic North
Pole. The North Pole of a magnet is so defined because if
allowed to rotate freely, it points roughly northward (in the
geographic sense). Since the north pole of a magnet attracts
the south poles of other magnet and repels the north pole,
it must be attracted to the south pole.
1. MATERIALS REQUIRED:
White paper sheet, drawing board, adhesive tape, bar
magnet, iron fillings and magnetic compass.
PROCEDURE:
• Fix a sheet of white paper on a drawing board using
some adhesive material.
• Place a bar magnet in the centre of it.
• Sprinkle some iron fillings uniformly around the bar
magnet.
• Now tap the board gently.
• Observe the pattern in which the iron fillings arrange
themselves.
• Use a magnetic compass to determine the direction of
field lines.
2. APPARATUS:
Accumulator, rheostat, ammeter, commutator, tangent
galvanometer.
PRINCIPLE AND FORMULAE:
• The reduction factor of tangent galvanometer is K= I
/ tan θ where I is the current flowing through
tangent galvanometer which produces the
deflection θ.
• The horizontal intensity of earth’s magnetic field at
a place Bh = µonK/2r, where n is the number of
turns of coil, µo = 4π x 10-7 N A-2 is the permeability
of free space, K is the reduction factor of the
tangent galvanometer and r is the radius of the coil
of the tangent galvanometer.
CIRCUIT DIAGRAM:
When a bar magnet is suspended in two magnetic fields B

and Bh, it comes to rest making and angle θ with the
direction of Bh.
PROCEDURE:
The circuit is made as shown in the diagram. The plane of
the coil is made vertical by adjusting the levelling screws.
The plane of the coil is made parallel to (90-90) in the
compass box. The whole tangent galvanometer is rotated to
read (0-0) at the ends of the aluminium pointer. Now the
plane of the coil is in the magnetic meridian.
The commutator keys are put. The rheostat should be
adjusted for deflection in the tangent galvanometer
between 10 and 60. For a current I, the deflections of the
pointer θ1 and θ2 are noted. The commutator is reversed.
The deflections of the pointer θ3 and θ4 are noted. The
average of the four readings is the deflection θ. From the
theory of tangent galvanometer, I = K tan θ.
By varying the current the experiment is repeated. Using
a string the circumference of the coil is measured. Hence
its radius is found. Let n be the number of turns of the
coil. The horizontal intensity at the place is given by Bh =
µonK/2r.
OBSERVATION:
SL.NO Ammeter Deflection in Mean K=I/tan θ
Reading Tangent
(A) galvanometer
θ1 θ2 θ3 θ4 θ5
1 0.15 35 35 35 35 35 0.70
2 0.20 49 47 60 64 53.6 1.36
3 0.25 36 36 55 58 46.25 1.04
4 0.30 50 50 65 68 58.2 1.61
5 0.27 45 45 64 65 53.8 1.37
CONCLUSION:
Experiment in tangent galvanometer gives the
reduction factor of galvanometer and horizontal
intensity of Earth’s magnetic field.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
www.slideshare.net
cdac.olabs.edu.in

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Physics

The diagram shows these key features:

When a bar magnet is suspended in two magnetic fields B

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