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Ferromagnets and Electromagnets Quiz

12 questions physics Grades 9-12

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  1. Materials called ferromagnetic are named after the Latin word for which metal?

    • Cobalt
    • Iron
    • Gadolinium
    • Nickel
    Reveal answer

    Answer: Iron

    Source evidence

    PDF page 1045: Only certain materials, such as iron, cobalt, nickel, and gadolinium, exhibit strong magnetic effects. Such materials are called ferromagnetic, after the Latin word for iron, ferrum. A group of materials made from the alloys of the rare earth elements are also used as strong and permanent magnets; a popular one is neodymium. Other materials exhibit weak magnetic effects, which are detectable only with sensitive instruments. Not only do ferromagnetic materials respond strongly to magnets (the way iron is attracted to magnets), they can also be magnetized themselves—that is, they can be induced to be magnetic or made into permanent magnets.

  2. Which of these is a rare-earth alloy used as a strong permanent magnet?

    • Copper
    • Neodymium
    • Zinc
    • Aluminum
    Reveal answer

    Answer: Neodymium

    Source evidence

    PDF page 1045: Only certain materials, such as iron, cobalt, nickel, and gadolinium, exhibit strong magnetic effects. Such materials are called ferromagnetic, after the Latin word for iron, ferrum. A group of materials made from the alloys of the rare earth elements are also used as strong and permanent magnets; a popular one is neodymium. Other materials exhibit weak magnetic effects, which are detectable only with sensitive instruments. Not only do ferromagnetic materials respond strongly to magnets (the way iron is attracted to magnets), they can also be magnetized themselves—that is, they can be induced to be magnetic or made into permanent magnets.

  3. In an unmagnetized ferromagnetic object, the domains are described as:

    • Fixed in place
    • Large and aligned
    • Nonexistent
    • Small and randomly oriented
    Reveal answer

    Answer: Small and randomly oriented

    Source evidence

    PDF page 1046: iron becomes a permanent magnet with the poles aligned as shown: its south pole is adjacent to the north pole of the original magnet, and its north pole is adjacent to the south pole of the original magnet. Note that there are attractive forces between the magnets. When a magnet is brought near a previously unmagnetized ferromagnetic material, it causes local magnetization of the material with unlike poles closest, as in Figure 22.7. (This results in the attraction of the previously unmagnetized material to the magnet.) What happens on a microscopic scale is illustrated in Figure 22.8. The regions within the material called domains act like small bar magnets. Within domains, the poles of individual atoms are aligned. Each atom acts like a tiny bar magnet. Domains are small and randomly oriented in an unmagnetized ferromagnetic object. In response to an external magnetic field, the domains may grow to millimeter size, aligning themselves as shown in Figure 22.8(b). This induced magnetization can be made permanent if the material is heated and then cooled, or simply tapped in the presence of other magnets.

  4. In response to an external magnetic field, domains may do what?

    • Vanish entirely
    • Grow and align with the field
    • Split into monopoles
    • Shrink and randomize
    Reveal answer

    Answer: Grow and align with the field

    Source evidence

    PDF page 1046: iron becomes a permanent magnet with the poles aligned as shown: its south pole is adjacent to the north pole of the original magnet, and its north pole is adjacent to the south pole of the original magnet. Note that there are attractive forces between the magnets. When a magnet is brought near a previously unmagnetized ferromagnetic material, it causes local magnetization of the material with unlike poles closest, as in Figure 22.7. (This results in the attraction of the previously unmagnetized material to the magnet.) What happens on a microscopic scale is illustrated in Figure 22.8. The regions within the material called domains act like small bar magnets. Within domains, the poles of individual atoms are aligned. Each atom acts like a tiny bar magnet. Domains are small and randomly oriented in an unmagnetized ferromagnetic object. In response to an external magnetic field, the domains may grow to millimeter size, aligning themselves as shown in Figure 22.8(b). This induced magnetization can be made permanent if the material is heated and then cooled, or simply tapped in the presence of other magnets.

  5. Above the Curie temperature, ferromagnetic materials cannot do what?

    • Reflect light
    • Conduct current
    • Be magnetized
    • Melt
    Reveal answer

    Answer: Be magnetized

    Source evidence

    PDF page 1046: an external field, the domains show greater alignment, and some grow at the expense of others. Individual atoms are aligned within domains; each atom acts like a tiny bar magnet. Conversely, a permanent magnet can be demagnetized by hard blows or by heating it in the absence of another magnet. Increased thermal motion at higher temperature can disrupt and randomize the orientation and the size of the domains. There is a well-defined temperature for ferromagnetic materials, which is called the Curie temperature, above which they cannot be magnetized. The Curie temperature for iron is 1043 K , which is well above room temperature. There are several elements and alloys that have Curie temperatures much lower than room temperature and are ferromagnetic only below those temperatures.

  6. What is the Curie temperature for iron?

    • 1043 K
    • 273 K
    • 500 K
    • 10000 K
    Reveal answer

    Answer: 1043 K

    Source evidence

    PDF page 1046: an external field, the domains show greater alignment, and some grow at the expense of others. Individual atoms are aligned within domains; each atom acts like a tiny bar magnet. Conversely, a permanent magnet can be demagnetized by hard blows or by heating it in the absence of another magnet. Increased thermal motion at higher temperature can disrupt and randomize the orientation and the size of the domains. There is a well-defined temperature for ferromagnetic materials, which is called the Curie temperature, above which they cannot be magnetized. The Curie temperature for iron is 1043 K , which is well above room temperature. There are several elements and alloys that have Curie temperatures much lower than room temperature and are ferromagnetic only below those temperatures.

  7. Who found that a compass needle was deflected by a current-carrying wire?

    • Pierre Curie
    • Hans Christian Oersted
    • James Maxwell
    • Michael Faraday
    Reveal answer

    Answer: Hans Christian Oersted

    Source evidence

    PDF page 1046: Early in the 19th century, it was discovered that electrical currents cause magnetic effects. The first significant observation was by the Danish scientist Hans Christian Oersted (1777–1851), who found that a compass needle was deflected by a current-carrying wire. This was the first significant evidence that the movement of charges had any connection with magnets. Electromagnetism is the use of electric current to make magnets. These temporarily induced magnets are called electromagnets. Electromagnets are employed for everything from a wrecking yard crane that lifts scrapped cars to controlling the beam of a 90-km-circumference particle accelerator to the magnets in medical imaging machines (See Figure 22.9).

  8. Temporarily induced magnets made using electric current are called:

    • Ferromagnets
    • Electromagnets
    • Superconductors
    • Monopoles
    Reveal answer

    Answer: Electromagnets

    Source evidence

    PDF page 1046: Early in the 19th century, it was discovered that electrical currents cause magnetic effects. The first significant observation was by the Danish scientist Hans Christian Oersted (1777–1851), who found that a compass needle was deflected by a current-carrying wire. This was the first significant evidence that the movement of charges had any connection with magnets. Electromagnetism is the use of electric current to make magnets. These temporarily induced magnets are called electromagnets. Electromagnets are employed for everything from a wrecking yard crane that lifts scrapped cars to controlling the beam of a 90-km-circumference particle accelerator to the magnets in medical imaging machines (See Figure 22.9).

  9. Iron filings near a current-carrying coil form a pattern that is:

    • Completely random
    • Circular only
    • Similar to that of a bar magnet
    • Opposite to a magnet's
    Reveal answer

    Answer: Similar to that of a bar magnet

    Source evidence

    PDF page 1047: Figure 22.10 shows that the response of iron filings to a current-carrying coil and to a permanent bar magnet. The

    PDF page 1047: Their response to a current-carrying coil and a permanent magnet is seen to be very similar, especially near the ends of the coil and the magnet. Combining a ferromagnet with an electromagnet can produce particularly strong magnetic effects. (See Figure 22.11.) Whenever strong magnetic effects are needed, such as lifting scrap metal, or in particle accelerators, electromagnets are enhanced by ferromagnetic materials. Limits to how strong the magnets can be made are imposed by coil resistance (it will overheat and melt at sufficiently high current), and so superconducting magnets may be employed. These are still limited, because superconducting properties are destroyed by too great a magnetic field.

  10. Electromagnets and ferromagnets share which basic characteristic?

    • Poles that cannot be separated
    • Unlimited field strength
    • No magnetic field
    • Only one pole
    Reveal answer

    Answer: Poles that cannot be separated

    Source evidence

    PDF page 1047: patterns are similar. In fact, electromagnets and ferromagnets have the same basic characteristics—for example, they have north and south poles that cannot be separated and for which like poles repel and unlike poles attract.

  11. What limits how strong an electromagnet can be made?

    • Lack of iron in nature
    • Coil resistance causing overheating
    • Domain color
    • The Curie point of copper
    Reveal answer

    Answer: Coil resistance causing overheating

    Source evidence

    PDF page 1047: Their response to a current-carrying coil and a permanent magnet is seen to be very similar, especially near the ends of the coil and the magnet. Combining a ferromagnet with an electromagnet can produce particularly strong magnetic effects. (See Figure 22.11.) Whenever strong magnetic effects are needed, such as lifting scrap metal, or in particle accelerators, electromagnets are enhanced by ferromagnetic materials. Limits to how strong the magnets can be made are imposed by coil resistance (it will overheat and melt at sufficiently high current), and so superconducting magnets may be employed. These are still limited, because superconducting properties are destroyed by too great a magnetic field.

  12. Ferromagnetic materials can act as memory devices because domain fields can be:

    • Turned to heat
    • Split apart
    • Reversed or erased
    • Made into monopoles
    Reveal answer

    Answer: Reversed or erased

    Source evidence

    PDF page 1048: act as memory devices, because the orientation of the magnetic fields of small domains can be reversed or erased. Magnetic information storage on videotapes and computer hard drives are among the most common applications. This property is vital in our digital world.

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