Questions concering magnets and electromagnetism

[bobbydigital]

I am a bit confused about the concept of magnets. It is said that magnets attract opposites, and repel likes. Now does that refer to the material, or a magnet being attracted/repelled by another magnet?

Also...

If an electromagnetic apparatus is strong enough, will attract/pull just about any type of matter? What are the conditions for a certain type of material to be pulled in by electromagnets?

Thanks in advance.

The reason I was wondering this is because I recently read Angels and Demons, and in it antimatter is created, kept in a vacuum sealed device, and is held by a group of powerful electromagnets. Althought it is a work of fiction, antimatter has actually been created in a lab by CERN

 

[spacetime]

Every magnet has two poles. They are basically two different parts of a magnet. For historical reasons, they are called north and south poles. So basically, the attraction or repulsion is between the two poles. Two similar poles attract and opposite poles attract.

The characteristic of a material for being pulled by an electromagnet is that it should be magnetic or should become magnetic under the influence of the magnetic field of the electromagnet.

 

[Graeme Robinson]

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Hi there,

Thank you for sharing your questions and thoughts about magnets and electromagnetism. I can understand why you may be confused about these concepts, as they can be a bit complex to understand at first. Let me try to clarify a few things for you.

Firstly, when we say that magnets attract opposites and repel likes, it refers to the poles of a magnet. Magnets have two poles - a north pole and a south pole. The north pole of one magnet will attract the south pole of another magnet, and vice versa. However, if you bring two magnets with the same poles together, they will repel each other. This is due to the magnetic fields produced by the magnets interacting with each other.

To answer your question about whether this attraction and repulsion refers to the material or the magnet itself, it actually refers to both. A magnet will attract or repel other magnets based on their poles, but it will also attract or repel magnetic materials, such as iron, based on their magnetic properties. This is because magnetic materials have their own magnetic fields that can interact with the magnetic field of a magnet.

Moving on to your question about electromagnets, these are magnets that are created by passing an electric current through a wire. This creates a magnetic field around the wire, which can attract or repel other magnetic materials. The strength of an electromagnet depends on the amount of current passing through the wire. So, to answer your question, yes, if an electromagnet is strong enough, it can attract or pull just about any type of matter that has magnetic properties.

However, not all materials can be attracted by electromagnets. For a material to be pulled in by an electromagnet, it needs to have some magnetic properties. This can be in the form of having its own magnetic field or being able to interact with the magnetic field of the electromagnet. Materials like iron, nickel, and cobalt are known as ferromagnetic materials and are strongly attracted to magnets. Other materials, such as aluminum and copper, are not attracted to magnets as they do not have strong magnetic properties.

As for the use of electromagnets to hold antimatter, it is true that antimatter has been created in labs by CERN and is kept in a vacuum sealed device. However, I am not sure if electromagnets are used to hold it, as I am not familiar with the specific details of the experiment. But it is possible that