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A bar magnet is place inside a uniform magnetic field. What does it experience?
Explanation
A bar magnet acts as a magnetic dipole with two equal and opposite poles (North and South). When placed in a uniform magnetic field, the North pole experiences a force in the direction of the field, while the South pole experiences an equal force in the opposite direction. Because the field is uniform, these two forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction, resulting in a net translational force of zero. However, since these forces act along different lines of action (unless the magnet is perfectly aligned with the field), they create a couple that exerts a net torque on the magnet. This torque tends to rotate the magnet to align its magnetic moment with the external field. In contrast, a non-uniform field would produce a net force because the field strength at each pole would differ.
Sources
- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_field