Stopping a Magnet From Working
Most recent answer: 10/22/2007
Q:
How can you stop a magnet from sticking to certain metals.
- Aaron (age 9)
Seminole
- Aaron (age 9)
Seminole
A:
The easist way to keep a magnet from sticking to other stuff is to keep
it away from the other stuff. The forces of attraction and repulsion
get very small far away from the magnet.
You can also redirect the magnetic flux lines into a loop to reduce the field strength away from the magnet. The easist way to do this is to put a bar of iron (like a nail) across the two poles of a horseshoe magnet. That way most of the magnetic field lines go through the nail and don’t go out into the nearby space, keeping other stuff from being pulled in.
You can make magnetic shielding material out of a variety of stuff. Mu-metal is a special alloy that allows magnetic field lines to travel very easily through it, acting like the nail in the above example.
Superconductors are also very good magnetic shields. Many superconductors (called Type I) do not permit magnetic fields to exist inside them. Put your magnet inside a superconducting box and no field lines will escape. Careful, though, because superconducting materials won’t superconduct as easily (read: you have to get them even colder, or sometimes they won’t work at all) when there’s a magnet around.
Here’s a way you can do it but it’ll wreck your magnet: Heat up the magnet. It’ll demagnetize and not attract stuff. It might magnetize a little again when cooled off, though.
Tom
You can also redirect the magnetic flux lines into a loop to reduce the field strength away from the magnet. The easist way to do this is to put a bar of iron (like a nail) across the two poles of a horseshoe magnet. That way most of the magnetic field lines go through the nail and don’t go out into the nearby space, keeping other stuff from being pulled in.
You can make magnetic shielding material out of a variety of stuff. Mu-metal is a special alloy that allows magnetic field lines to travel very easily through it, acting like the nail in the above example.
Superconductors are also very good magnetic shields. Many superconductors (called Type I) do not permit magnetic fields to exist inside them. Put your magnet inside a superconducting box and no field lines will escape. Careful, though, because superconducting materials won’t superconduct as easily (read: you have to get them even colder, or sometimes they won’t work at all) when there’s a magnet around.
Here’s a way you can do it but it’ll wreck your magnet: Heat up the magnet. It’ll demagnetize and not attract stuff. It might magnetize a little again when cooled off, though.
Tom
(published on 10/22/2007)