Distance over Force of a Magnet

[dazza95]

A experiment was conducted where we had an electromagnet and a magnet. Our aim was to see how close the electromagnetic would need to be before it would attract/repel the other magnet. We recorded the distance between the two magnets and the difference in mass of the normal magnet. The force was then calculated and then plotted against distance.
See attachment for results

Theoretically, the trend of distance against magnet strength should be an inverse squared function however our results are showing an inverse cubed function? Any ideas?

Thanks :)

 

[jbsteele]

The inverse squared function is the expected behavior for magnetic forces. It is likely that your data is not quite following this trend due to experimental errors or other factors. It is possible that the shape of the magnets or the materials they are made of could affect the shape of the curve. Also, if you are not measuring the distance between the magnets precisely enough, this could also lead to inaccuracies in the results. You may want to double-check your experiment setup and recalculate the force values to see if this changes the results.