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rotating a disk magnet above an identical disk mag


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I have slowly rotated a disk magnet above an identical disk magnet. The result: a sine wave. A graph of one peak and one vally per 360 degree rotation. The north poles are facing each other and are perfectly alligned. I am measuring repulsive force.Why is that? can anyone help?

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Well the bottom of the magnet is a north pole and the top is a south pole. Well the magnet must be oriented vertically.

You have said that twice, BUT:

Your experiment demonstrates that the magnetization is directed along a diameter of the disk. Do you have any experiment to indicate that the magnetization is along the axis of the disk?

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Are you implying that half the bottom of the disk is a north pole and the other half a south pole? I have never come across such a magnet. It is a normal disk magnetwhich is available for sale on the net.

I'm sorry. I thought you understood what the magnetization vector field in a permanent magnet was. I am afraid I will have to get a bit technical.

The magnetization vector, M, is what determines the magnetic properties of a ferromagnet. The concept of "magnetic charge" is a mathematical abstraction that behaves like a charge, but does not really exist as a physical entity. The "magnetic charge density" at the surface of a magnet equals the normal component of the magnetization at the surface. If the magnetization vector were perpendicular to the plane of the magnetized disk, then there would be positive (called "north") magnetic charge spread over one face and negative magnetic charge (called "south") spread over the other face. It would look like the top face were a north magnetic pole.

(Even then, the "pole" would not be at one point, but would be spread out over th etop face.)

In the case of your magnetized disks, the manetization vector is in the plane of the disk. Then positive (north) magnetic charge is spread out over one half of the circumference of the disk, and negative (south) magnetic charge is spread out over the other half. There is no single "pole", but a spread out distribution of magnetic charge. The density of the magnetic charge varies like sin\theta, which is why you see a sin\theta depndence of the force in your experiment of rotating one disk with respect to the other.

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Let me clarify. I am actually getting a sine wave which shows that the force is always repelling. I do not have attractive force, just more repelling or less repelling force. Put it another way: a "DC" sine wave. My guess is that the discs were magnetized perpendicularly. Only I could not get them aligned as the point with the strongest field is not the centre of the disc. for example the earth's geographical north pole is not where the magnetic north pole is.

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