Before I begin this entry into my blog I want to explain that what you are about to read are the results of numerous small experiments that I’ve been doing to help me understand what is going on with magnets and what attracts them towards each other and other iron objects.  This entry will not be a complete definition of magnetism, nor do I claim all of the statements will be presented perfectly and correctly on this pass.  The objective was to help myself understand the attraction and repelling forces behind magnetism and the research is still on going.  If mistakes are made I’m sure someone will point them out to me on the forum. 

Another note before we begin: despite what we’ve been told and what we might think, magnetism on a whole is still not very understood.  Yes, you could argue that we have mastered it because of all the things we do with it, but that would be like saying you’ve mastered building cars because you can drive one.  This is why I’ve taken to doing my own experiments, because I want to see for myself what is going on.  I am actively studying the subject as well, but most of what you will read here will be from my own head, not from books.

The first thing we are told about magnets is that they have a North and South Pole.  This is only a way for us to denote the fact that they are different from one another and seem to have a flow about them.  They don’t literally have labels on them, so this is merely a mechanism to help understand and relate to the strange properties of what we see.  We are told that the flow of energy moves from the North Pole to the South Pole.  I’m not sure how this decision was made because from the limited experiments I’ve done so far, I would not have been able to make this determination.  As an example:  Here is a picture of small iron pieces attracted to a north pole, south pole, and then the spot in between.  Notice in Illustration M-1 that the small pieces are sticking straight out, as well as in M-2.  You’d almost expect a reverse movement in the latter if the flow was headed in towards the magnet but we’ll leave that for another day.

Now in the next couple pictures, the magnet has been turned on its side to allow the flow to be seen as it crosses between north and south.  My goal here was to see if the iron lays down in any particular direction as the magnet is placed under it.  What it shows however, is that it didn’t matter how I positioned the magnets or in which direction.  The flow of our mysterious energy doesn’t seem to touch it.  If fact, if you look close, you will see that the two ends of image M-4 shows the energy pushing out of both ends and causing it to stand up, but in the middle there is nothing going on.  At first it appears the center is laying over in response to the flow, but after a lot of changes and movements, this is not what I see.

What appears to be happening in the above two pictures is that we’re seeing the energy radiating outwards from both flat sides of the magnet but on the narrow side, there isn’t much at all happening.  The directional pattern you see is a left over effect of when things were standing straight up in the earlier tests.  When the magnet was removed, the structure collapsed and left that orderly look about it.

So, while my tests do show that magnets radiate some type of energy from both sides of a magnet, and because they repel each other as equally as they attract, I see no way yet of determining direction.  Taking into account that two will grab hold of each other, we’d also be correct in assuming that the flow originates and enters the same magnet from opposite sides.  We just need to figure out how to determine an actual directional flow.  A note about my iron I’m testing with is also in order.  This was captured off a drill press and is not perfect and also contains a good bit of dirt.  In later tests I’ll try to get a cleaner collection as it might show different results.

Here are a few diagrams I made up to help visualize how the magnets attract and repel each other with a description below each.

What we are seeing here is assuming a direction from North to South.  We are showing the approximate flux lines you might see.  The widths are not accurate of course as this is only meant to help visualize the flow.  Notice that the ends don’t seem to radiate energy; it only passes by it on its way from side to side.  This would explain in our tests why we didn’t see any activity directly off the end of the magnet.

 

What we are looking at here are 2 bar magnets as they approach each other from the sides.  Note that if you have them arranged so that the North and South sides are the same as in this illustration, that the two flows in the center can’t reach the bottom of the magnets to complete their cycle because you are trying to smash them together.  As such, you are trying to physically cut off that flow and they don’t want to allow you to do this.  As such, they repel each other in order to try to keep the flow moving.  Another test for the future is to use iron fillings during this process to see if you can see what type of disturbances are being set off when you push them together.

What we are looking at here, are two bar magnets that have been flipped over so that North on one is pointed up and South on the other is pointed up.  As the magnets are pushed towards each other, the top left magnet’s northerly flow, instead of going all the way around to the bottom of itself, sees the other shorter trip to the top of the magnet on the right.  As such it grabs hold of it and begins to pull it closer.  The same thing happens on the bottom of the magnets where the flow of the right magnet sees the much shorter path of the left magnet and grabs hold of it.  Note the two outside ends paths are not altered during this mating process.

Using these few illustrations you can pretty much determine what will happen to bar magnets in any orientation you put them in.  I will continue to think of other arrangements and present my findings as I go.  I hope to try to determine what is going on with the flow of energy as I have a few ideas.  To save myself the trouble of looking too stupid, I’ll wait a little longer before I present my opinion on what we’re seeing with these things, however, this blog entry will hopefully help to keep track of things as I progress.

One last thing I’d like to mention before going, is that I tested, using a compass, how magnets affect the power of each other.  For example: are 3 magnets stuck to each other stronger than 3 magnets sitting side by side facing the same direction.  I also tested whether a sheet of stainless steel or aluminum affected the power, if placed between the compass and the magnets.  What I seem to have found so far is that the metal between the magnets and the compass didn’t cause any noticeable effect, which is what I expected due to neither being grabbed by the flow of energy.  As for the stacking of magnets and their power, it appears that it also doesn’t matter.  If you have 3 magnets side by side, they appear to be as strong as 3 stacked on top of each other, but will continue to test before making a final conclusion on the matter.

Until next time…

-glenn hancock