PhysicsCode 5054
Simple magnetism and magnetic fields
What this topic asks you to be able to do
- Describe how magnetic poles exert forces on one another, and how magnets exert forces on magnetic materials, including using the terms N pole (north pole), S pole (south pole), attraction, repulsion, magnetised and unmagnetised
- Describe induced magnetism
- State how magnetic materials differ from non-magnetic ones
- State the ways in which temporary magnets, formed from soft iron, differ from permanent magnets, which are formed from steel.
- Describe a magnetic field as a region of space in which magnetic poles have forces exerted on them
- Describe how magnetic field lines are plotted using iron filings or a compass, and how a compass is used to find the direction of the magnetic field
- Draw the magnetic field lines that surround a bar magnet, showing both their pattern and their direction
- State that, at any point, the magnetic field points in the same direction as the force felt by the N pole of a magnet placed there
- Understand that the strength of a magnetic field, relative to others, is shown by how closely the magnetic field lines are spaced.
- Describe the ways in which permanent magnets and electromagnets are put to use.