Force on an iron ball due to a dipole magnet

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
1 reply · 4K views
cereal9
Messages
9
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement


A soft iron ball is fixed a distance d above the pole of a rectangular dipole magnet which is permanently magnetized. What is the force the iron ball feels due to the magnetic field?

The dimensions of the dipole magnet are a x a x b, where a < b

Homework Equations



[tex]B= \frac{μ_0}{4π}\frac{m}{d^3}[/tex]

Dipole Moment:
[tex]m = pl[/tex]
p = magnetic dipole strength (how is this even calculated?)
l = displacement vector between poles

The Attempt at a Solution



I know the following:

[tex]F = qv x B[/tex]

But I don't think I can use that because there's no velocity as the iron ball is fixed.

The ball has to feel some kind of force, though that formula suggests it isn't possible. It seems to me that if I hung a ball from a string, the tension in the string would increase if a magnet was placed below the iron ball. Is there some concept I'm not understanding, here?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
After thinking about it, I think that with the magnetic field from the dipole magnet pulling charge to one spot in the soft iron, that too would act like a dipole so I'd be looking for dipole-dipole forces.

[tex]F_{mag}=\frac{-3μ_0m_1m_2}{4πr^4}[/tex]

Where m1 and m2 are the masses of the soft iron ball and the aforementioned dipole magnet?