Poles of a Magnet

 Poles of a Magnet

Poles of a Magnet (A) Let us know what are the poles of the magnet? (1) Spread some iron filings on the wooden table. (2) Take a bar magnet and hold it horizontally from its centre. (3) Bring a bar magnet near the iron filings and move it around. What do you observe? (1) The iron filings are attracted towards the two end of the bar magnet. (2) These two ends of the magnet are called the poles of the magnet. Did you notice that all iron filings are attracted towards the pole of the magnet? The reason being: The magnet has two poles, where most of its magnetic strength is concentrated. (B) Let us learn how to determine the poles of a magnet? (1) Take a bar magnet about 25 cm long (2) Tie it and suspend it through a long thread from a stand as shown in the figure. (3) Allow the magnet to come to rest. (4) The end of a freely suspended magnet will always point in the North-South direction. (5) Disturb the direction of the magnet and allow it to come to rest. You will observe that the end of a freely suspended magnet will again point in the North-South direction. So what did we learn? (1) A suspended magnet always tends to orient itself along a north-south direction. (2) The end that points in the North is called the North Pole of the magnet and the end that points South is called the South Pole of the magnet.