PHYSICS INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

TOPIC: TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF

INCREASING TEMPERATURE ON THE STRENGTH
OF A MAGNET

NAME: KANCHANA CHIRING

CLASS: XII
ROLL NO. :
 INDEX

S.NO TITLE PG

NO

1 INTRODUCTION 1

2 THEORY 3

3 EXPERIMENT 4

4 OBSERVATION 5

5 RESULT 5

6 CONCLUSION 5

7 BIBLIOGRAPHY 6
 INTRODUCTION

A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field.

This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most
notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on
other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, and attracts or
repels other magnets.

A permanent magnet is an object made from a material that

is magnetized and creates its own persistent magnetic field. An
everyday example is a refrigerator magnet used to hold notes on a
refrigerator door. Materials that can be magnetized, which are
also the ones that are strongly attracted to a magnet, are
called ferromagnetic (or ferrimagnetic). These include the
elements iron, nickel and cobalt, some alloys of rare-earth
metals, and some naturally occurring minerals such
as lodestone. Although ferromagnetic (and ferrimagnetic)
materials are the only ones attracted to a magnet strongly
enough to be commonly considered magnetic, all other
substances respond weakly to a magnetic field, by one of several
other types of magnetism.

Ferromagnetic materials can be divided into magnetically "soft"

materials like annealed iron, which can be magnetized but do not
tend to stay magnetized, and magnetically "hard" materials,
which do. Permanent magnets are made from "hard"
ferromagnetic materials such as alnico and ferrite that are
subjected to special processing in a strong magnetic field during
manufacture to align their internal microcrystalline structure,
making them very hard to demagnetize. To demagnetize a
saturated magnet, a certain magnetic field must be applied, and
this threshold depends on coercivity of the respective material.
"Hard" materials have high coercivity, whereas "soft" materials
have low coercivity. The overall strength of a magnet is measured
by its magnetic moment or, alternatively, the total magnetic
flux it produces. The local strength of magnetism in a material is
measured by its magnetization.

The magnetic flux density (also called magnetic B field or just

magnetic field, usually denoted B) is a vector field. The magnetic
B field vector at a given point in space is specified by two
properties:
1. Its direction, which is along the orientation of a compass
needle.
2. Its magnitude (also called strength), which is proportional to
how strongly the
compass needle orients along that direction.

In SI units, the strength of the magnetic B field is given in tesla.

 THEORY

Magnetism is created by the alignment of small domains within a

specific set of metals. These domains function as all atoms do
thus the temperature affects the movement. The higher the heat,
the greater the energey and as such the movement of the
particles. Cold temperature slows the movement. Magnets are
dipoles, which means they have an opposite charge, or magnetic
direction, at each end. This is a result of most of the magnetic
molecules facing the same direction. When we heat our magnets,
those polar molecules start moving around. The average direction
of the entire magnet’s polarity becomes a little bit messier
because those magnetic molecules are no longer facing the same
direction.

If magnets are heated to the Curie point, they lose their ability to
be magnetic. The dipoles become so disordered that they can’t
return to their original state. Curie points are very hot, and you
would not be able to get your magnets to reach them without
special lab equipment. For iron, the Curie Point is 1417°F.

As your boiled magnet cools from the boiling temperature of

100°C back to room temperature, it will return to its normal
magnetic strength. Cooling the magnet even further to 0°C in ice
water or -78°C in dry ice will cause the magnet to become
stronger. Cooling causes the molecules in the magnet to have less
kinetic energy. This means that there is less vibration in the
magnet’s molecules, allowing the magnetic field they create to be
more consistently concentrated in a given direction.
 EXPERIMENT

AIM : To determine the effect of increasing temperature on the

strength of a magnet

APPARATUS : one bar magnet, insulating container, bowls, oven,

paper clips ( more than 300), tongs

PROCEDURE :

1. Paperclips were placed in a bowl.

2. The magnet was weighed and recorded.

3. The magnet was placed in oven set to highest temperature
possible.

4. The magnet was allowed to reach the temperature of the oven.

5. The magnet was then placed in a bowl filled with paperclips.

6. The amount of paper clips attracted by the magnet was

weighed and recorded.

7. The steps 5 and 6 were repeated after setting the oven at

different temperatures and the quantity of paper clips attracted
was weighed.

OBSERVATION :

TEMPERATURE(IN WEIGHT (Gm) NO OF CLIPS

CELSIUS) ATTRACTED
180 200 140
160 230 153
140 210 141
120 230 151
100 220 146
24 124 82

RESULT:

The graph indicates that the temperature initially decreases and

the number of pins attracted increases up to a certain limit. Later
as the temperature decreases, number of pins attracted also
decreases.

CONCLUSION

Magnetic materials should maintain a balance between

temperature and magnetic domains (the atoms’ inclination to
spin in a certain direction). When exposed to extreme
temperatures, however, this balance is destabilized. Heat can
result in the loss of magnetic properties. In other words, too
much heat can completely ruin a magnet. Excessive heat causes
atoms to move more rapidly, disturbing the magnetic domains.
As the atoms are sped up, the percentage of magnetic domains
spinning in the same direction decreases. This lack of cohesion
weakens the magnetic force and eventually demagnetizes it entir

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• www.icbse.com
• www.sciencebuddies.com
• www.wikipedia.com
• www.howmagnetswork.com