Question
Question: State whether true or false: A magnet always has a pair of poles. A. True. B. False....
State whether true or false:
A magnet always has a pair of poles.
A. True.
B. False.
Solution
We will see if we divide a magnet, it is always a magnet. This has been experimentally verified to the best of our ability to divide it into smaller and smaller pieces. This is why magnetic monopoles do not exist. No one has ever observed an isolated north or south pole in nature.
Complete step by step answer:
Magnetism is produced by electric current. A magnet will always have a pair of poles, a north and south because magnetic field lines are continuous and always form closed loops
That is why magnets always have a pair of poles.
Hence the statement is true.
Therefore the correct option is A.
Additional information:
Fundamental particles that make up the individual atoms of the magnet. The “source” of bulk magnetism in permanent magnets and ferromagnetic materials are the electrons within certain orbitals of atoms within those materials. Those atoms have a very real, fundamental net magnetic moment, and electrons have a fundamental magnetic moment that stems from their fundamental spin.
In another sense: depends- many permanent magnets rely on their bulk structure to maintain polarity. Even materials that rely on the ability of individual crystal cells of a bulk material to retain a magnetic moment by merit of their composition sometimes require surrounding crystals and perhaps other material phases to hold a magnetic moment.
So, in some magnets, we could break the magnet down to individual crystals, and still have a magnet; then take out select atoms from the crystal, and we would find a single-atom magnet; and then, if we took any atom, and pried out a single electron, we would find our self with a single-fundamental-particle magnet.
In other magnets, breaking down to the crystal-level would lose magnetism; but, going further down to atoms and electrons, we would still have tiny magnets.
The difference between the two is in the ability of the magnetic moments of individual atoms to maintain alignment within a crystal structure. In some materials, that ability relies on the context of a larger structure; in other materials, a single crystal maintains magnetism quite nicely.
Note:
Magnetic fields are produced by currents. The magnetic fields produced by currents are “solenoidal”, which means that the field lines form closed loops. That means that if magnetic field lines exit from one end of a magnet, they must re-enter somewhere, typically on the other end.