Magnetic Sphere

[Moontanman]

What would happen if you made a bunch of magnets shaped like spikes and when you put (glued with super glue) them together they formed a sphere with the south pole at the center of the sphere and the north pole on the surface? How would such a magnet look with it's magnetic field? 

 

[A-wal]

Wouldn't make a torus shape?

[A-wal]

Sorry I misread your post, you said sphere, I was thinking of a ring.

I don't know much about magnetic field lines but a sphere is a perfectly symmetrical object so outer most points of the magnetic field lines wound have to create a bigger sphere.

I would imagine it creates a very pretty looking lattice.

[Pmb]

Howdy Moontanman! What a wonderfully simple and enlightening question! Thank you so much for posting it!

 

I assume that what you have in mind is a magnetic monopole, correct? I'm sad to report that your intuition is way off. Let's redraw your sphere but this time we'll only have magnetic dipoles on a surface of a sphere. The result will be the same. This time instead of using bar magnets we'll use small loops of current. First do the surface of the north hemisphere. Notice that the currents on the interior will cancel out. When you've completed the entire top of the sphere you'll notice that the only current left is a single loop going in one direction. When you do the bottom hemisphere you'll get the same results. Put them together and you get no magnet at all.

Edited August 8, 2015 by Pmb

[Moontanman]

Howdy Moontanman! What a wonderfully simple and enlightening question! Thank you so much for posting it!

 

I assume that what you have in mind is a magnetic monopole, correct? I'm sad to report that your intuition is way off. Let's redraw your sphere but this time we'll only have magnetic dipoles on a surface of a sphere. The result will be the same. This time instead of using bar magnets we'll use small loops of current. First do the surface of the north hemisphere. Notice that the currents on the interior will cancel out. When you've completed the entire top of the sphere you'll notice that the only current left is a single loop going in one direction. When you do the bottom hemisphere you'll get the same results. Put them together and you get no magnet at all.

 

 

No, a monopole was not my intent but thanks for the answer!