A horseshoe magnet cannot possess only one pole, as demonstrated by the principles of magnetic fields and domain alignment. When winding a conductor around a horseshoe-shaped iron core with current flowing in the same direction at both ends, both ends become south poles, leading to a cancellation of magnetic fields rather than the creation of a monopole. This setup effectively creates two solenoids connected in series opposition, resulting in a weak and complex magnetic field. Magnetic monopoles, while theorized, have never been observed in practice.
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As mfb pointed out, you are connecting the two coils in series opposition. This way, you are reducing the net magnetic field inside the magnet by effectively reducing the inductance of the coil (look up series-aiding and series-opposing coil connections).Fiona Rozario said:Is it possible for a horseshoe magnet to have only one pole? For example, if i take a horseshoe shaped iron core and wind a conductor such that both the ends of the horseshoe have current flowing in the clockwise direction, then both ends are south poles. Is this possible? In that case how are the domains aligned?
mfb said:You create the equivalent of two permanent magnets with equal poles held together: The fields will largely cancel each other and you get a complex and weak sum of the two fields.
You cannot create magnetic monopoles that way. While these might exist as elementary particles, no magnetic monopole has ever been found - if they exist at all, they must be incredibly rare.
You are proposing, effectively two solenoids, connected by an iron bar, joining S pole to S pole. I cannot find an image of the fields round that particular setup but the images in this link may give you an idea of what to expect. You will see that the lines of force that you were thinking would somehow disappear will, in fact, bend round from S to N poles. The result will not be symmetrical but those lines will still find their way from N to S, whatever you do with them. In all the possible set ups you can see, the lines are complete - sometimes going through both magnets.Fiona Rozario said:Is it possible for a horseshoe magnet to have only one pole? For example, if i take a horseshoe shaped iron core and wind a conductor such that both the ends of the horseshoe have current flowing in the clockwise direction, then both ends are south poles. Is this possible? In that case how are the domains aligned?