Question

the directive property of a magnet is due to earth's magnetic field and why not due to attractive property.
Pls. explain

Answer 1

Directive Property

If we suspend a magnet freely in air then it always aligns itself in the geographic north-south direction. This is called as directive property of a magnet.

The alignment in N-S direction causes because of earth magnetic field,an element having magnetic property experiences torque in some other external magnetic field, the torque tends the element to adjust parallel to external field.,when you freely suspend a bar magnet in a horizontal position, the magnetic field of the bar magnet will interact with the magnetic field of the Earth. This will cause the bar magnet to come to rest in a north-south direction.Hence directive property is due to earth magnetic field.


Attractive property: – A magnet has the property to attract some substances like iron, cobalt and nickel when brought near it. This property of magnet is called as attractive property.

Magnets attract iron due to the influence of their magnetic field upon the iron.Before a piece of iron enters the magnetic field of a magnet, the polarization of the iron atoms is random.When exposed to the magnetic field, the atoms begin to align their electrons with the flow of the magnetic field, which makes the iron magnetized as well. This, in turn, creates an attraction between the two magnetized objects. This is why a piece of iron that is exposed to a magnet becomes magnetic for some time afterward.

So we can say that attraction property is due do the magnetic field of magnet whereas directive property is due to earth magnetic field.