Bar Magnets, Which is North and which is South?

can u please help me explain how magnets work?


1. If you have two unmarked bar magnets and no other equipment, can you determine which pole of one is N and which is S?



2. If you have an unmarked bar magnet and an identical unmaqnetized bar of iron, how can you determine which is the magnet?

I would float the magnet in a container on water. The north of the magnet will settle pointing to the North Magnetic Pole.

You could do the same with the bar of iron. it would not favour one way or the other.

This might help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMFPe-DwULM

A magnet is any object that has a magnetic field. It attracts ferrous objects like pieces of iron, steel, nickel and cobalt. In the early days, the Greeks observed that the naturally occurring 'lodestone' attracted iron pieces. From that day onwards began the journey into the discovery of magnets.

These days magnets are made artificially in various shapes and sizes depending on their use. One of the most common magnets - the bar magnet - is a long, rectangular bar of uniform cross-section that attracts pieces of ferrous objects. The magnetic compass needle is also commonly used. The compass needle is a tiny magnet which is free to move horizontally on a pivot. One end of the compass needle points in the North direction and the other end points in the South direction.

The end of a freely pivoted magnet will always point in the North-South direction. This is available in List Of Chemistry Journals of various publishers.