20.1. Properties of Magnets http://www.ck12.org
- If you had two iron rods and noticed that they attract each other, how could you determine if both were magnets
or only one was a magnet?
- magnet:A body that can attract certain substances, such as iron or steel, as a result of a magnetic field.
- magnetic pole:Either of two regions of a magnet, designated north and south, where the magnetic field is
strongest. Electromagnetic interactions cause the north poles of magnets to be attracted to the south poles of
other magnets, and conversely. The north pole of a magnet is the pole out of which magnetic lines of force
point, while the south pole is the pole into which they point. - ferromagnetic: A body or substance having a high susceptibility to magnetization, the strength of which
depends on that of the applied magnetizing field, and which may persist after removal of the applied field.
This is the kind of magnetism displayed by iron, and is associated with parallel magnetic alignment of adjacent
domains. - magnetic field:A field of force surrounding a permanent magnet or a moving charged particle.
- magnetic domain:An atom or group of atoms within a material that have some kind of “net” magnetic field.
- temporary magnet:A piece of iron that is a magnet while in the presence of another magnetic field but loses
its magnetic characteristics when the other field is removed. - permanent magnet: A piece of magnetic material that retains its magnetism after it is removed from a
magnetic field.