Magnetic force lost when you break a magnet?

[Cemelion]

if you have a magnet that pulls 40lbs of force if you broke that into 2 how much force will each magnet pull.

i have some neodymium magnets from hardrives and i want to break them up but i want to know if that's gunna make them lose a lot of force. anyone know the formula for calculating such a thing? or better yet just plane old english will work lol. thanks

 

[scientifico]

if you break it in two equal parts they will pull 20 lbs every one

 

[Meir Achuz]

It depends how you break them. If you bereak them like this |S_________|__________N|,
you will get two magnets with the same 40 pounds. Breaking then along the length, would give two magnets of 20 pounds. For a given magnetization, the force is proportional to the area of the (N or S ) end of the magnet.

 

[AJ Bentley]

I'm not at all sure that breaking a modern magnet in half will give you something like 50:50.

I would guess that's true of an old steel magnet but modern crystalline high-power magnets are much more sophisticated and might react badly to being fractured.

Anyway, it would be interesting to find out.

 

[Khashishi]

Maybe you will gain some force, since 2 magnets can be placed closer to the surface than 1 big magnet. Why don't you try it out and tell us the result?