Calculating the froce between two magnets

  • Thread starter Thread starter chui
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Magnets
AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on understanding the formula for calculating the magnetic force between two magnets, specifically the meaning of "mu," which represents the permeability of the medium, typically air. The permeability value for air is approximately 1.26 x 10^-4 Henry/meter. It is emphasized that magnetic monopoles have not been observed, and calculations should focus on magnetic dipoles instead, leading to a more complex formula that does not follow an inverse square relationship. Additionally, the magnetic force is not influenced by the mass of the magnets, as it is more closely related to charge and velocity, similar to electric forces. Overall, the Wikipedia formula provides a foundational understanding but does not fully account for real-life applications involving magnetic dipoles.
Physics news on Phys.org
chui said:
I have a formula, taken from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet#Calculating_the_Magnetic_Force"
But I didnt get the meaning of "mu" in this formula..
can anyone explain?
\mu is the permeability of the medium between the magnets, in your case this is probably air, the value of \mu_{air} \approx \mu_0 = 1.26 x 10^{-4} \frac {Henry} {meter} [/tex].
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Another thing that's worth pointing out is that magnetic poles (aka monopoles) have never been observed to exist, though theoretically they may have existed at very early times in the formation of the universe.

So if you want to calculate the force between a pair of real magnets like the kind you'll be likely to find on your refrigeratior, you'll need to work out the force between dipoles, not magnetic poles (aka monoples). This will lead to a much more complex formula, and a non-inverse square relationship for the force.

Modeling a magnetic dipole as a pair of magnetic poles some distance will be very useful in calculating the force between real magnets, but as far as real-life applicaitons go, the wikipedia formula has only done half the job.
 
no mass?

Well, Does this force not effected by the magnet Mass?! (unlike gravity etc.)
why is that?
 
The electric force between two charges depends on the charge, not the mass. The magnetic force is basically a relativistic correction to the electric force, so it depends on charge and velocity (i.e. current).
 
I was using the Smith chart to determine the input impedance of a transmission line that has a reflection from the load. One can do this if one knows the characteristic impedance Zo, the degree of mismatch of the load ZL and the length of the transmission line in wavelengths. However, my question is: Consider the input impedance of a wave which appears back at the source after reflection from the load and has traveled for some fraction of a wavelength. The impedance of this wave as it...
Back
Top