• Question: why do magnetic fields happen

    Asked by anon-246504 to Megan, Katherine, Jesse, Dave, AJ, Amelia on 12 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Jesse Dykes

      Jesse Dykes answered on 12 Mar 2020:

      Something to do with a quantum property of electrons, called spin. I was taught it, but I never understood it, sorry!

    • Photo: Megan Maunder

      Megan Maunder answered on 12 Mar 2020:

      Everything is made up of tiny units called atoms. Each atom has electrons that spin around its core, called a nucleus Electrons carry charge and their movement an electric current and causes each electron to act like a microscopic magnet.

      Something which has electrons that spins in opposite directions won’t have magnetism but if most electrons spin in the same direction the substance becomes magnetic.

      All magnets have north and south poles, like poles repel and opposite poles attract.

      When electricity runs through a coil of wire, it produces a magnetic field. The field around the coil will disappear, however, as soon as the electric current is turned off.

    • Photo: Dave Constable

      Dave Constable answered on 13 Mar 2020:

      Charged particles which are moving will generate a magnetic field. This is how electromagnets work – when they are powered on, electricity flows, generating the magnetic field.

      Materials which are magnetic and always generate a magnetic field have something called a spin dipole of all their electrons pointing in the same direction. This has to do with quantum mechanics, and I’m not an expert in that!

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