Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Magnetism – Some Remarkable Stories And Factual Information On The Phenomenon

Magnetism comprises one of the initial natural forces that humans ever found, however, it was only recently that the complete usage of magnetism has been realized and practiced upon. Many devise and technologies have magnetism working behind them, so much so that our univetse seems to be incomplete without them. For {instance|example], if you go for an ipod repair or an iphone repair then most certainly it is electromagnetism that powers these gadgets. Have a look at some of the interesting facts and stories on magnetism that have been collected through ancient times.

You may be thinking how magnets were actually found. Myth has it that a shepherd named Magnes who used to live some 4,000 years before got his shoes attached to a rock that comprised of nails that got attracted to a rock named magnetite. Without much knowledge of the phenomenon at that time, it was believed that the rock had supernatural powers.

Archimedes, a scientist of ancient Greece, is believed to have pulled the nails out of rivals ships by a magnet which resulted in the drowning of all the foes ships. It was Archimedes who realized the significance of magnetism. Moreover, magnets have been used throughout ancient times for navigation reasons by sailors. They found that a piece of magnet balanced by a thread will always align in the North-South direction. This is what led to the invention of compasses. This is why magnetite was called the leading stone because it helped in direction.

Frequently, you will see that magnets are made of steel or iron. Whereas, powerful magnets can be manufactured by alloys of metals such as iron, nickel, copper, cobalt, etc. In older times, hammering and heating a piece of steel or iron in the north-south direction was used as a way to magnetize them. With this technique, the molecules have assembled themselves in the north-south direction. Magnets are not only stones found on our earth, but all of earth itself behaves as a magnet. Earth is a magnet that even comprises of the North and South Pole. When you keep a non-magnetic material in a North to South direction, it results in magnetizing it. This happens due to the presence of a magnetic field around the earth and the molecules get enough time to get assembled in the North-South direction.

The question is; what causes the earth to turn into a magnet? It is believed that this magnetic power of the earth comes from a fluid in the center of the earth that makes the earth to turn in to a gigantic electromagnet. It’s basically the flow of liquid metal that produces electrical current, and a magnetic field is created as a result of this current. Yet, the puzzling part is elaborating the source of the magnetic field that initiated it all in the first place. There is a theory that the strong magnetic field from the sun was the cause to initiate the procedure when earth was formed. But, we can’t say this for certain. Whatever means it began, it is truly a wonder of nature.

No comments:

Post a Comment