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Bar Magnet Compass:

A magnetic field is invisible, but it can be detected using a magnetic
compass. A compass contains a small bar magnet on a pivot so that it
can rotate. The compass needle points in the direction of the Earth’s
magnetic field or the magnetic field of the magnet.
Magnetic fields can be mapped out using small plotting compasses:

• Place the plotting compass near the magnet on a piece of paper.

• Mark the direction of the compass needle points.
• Move the plotting compass to many different positions in the
magnetic field, marking the needle direction each time.
• Join the points to show the field lines.
• The needle of a plotting compass points to the south pole of the
magnet.

The Earth’s Magnetic field:

The behaviour of a compass shows that the earth has a magnetic field.
Scientists believe that this field is produced by convection currents in
the Earth’s core, which is made from iron and nickel. When a plotting
compass is placed in the Earth’s magnetic field, the north pole of the
compass will line up with the Earth’s magnetic field lines and point to
the magnetic south.

Drawing a Magnetic field:

The diagram shows the magnetic field around a bar magnet.
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The diagram shows these key features:

• The magnetic field lines never cross each other.

• The closer the lines, the stronger the magnetic field.
• The lines have arrowheads to show the direction of force exerted
by a magnetic north pole.
• The arrowheads point from the North Pole of the magnet to the
South Pole.

Tangent Galvanometer:
Earth’s magnetic field also known as the geomagnetic field, is the
magnetic field that extends from the earth’s interior to where it meets
the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the sun. Its
magnitude at the Earth’s surface ranges from 25 to 65 micro teslas
90.23 to 0.65 gauss). Roughly speaking it is the field of magnetic
dipole currently tilted at an angle of about 10 degrees with respect to
Earth’s rotational axis as if these were a bar magnet placed at that angle
at the centre of the Earth.
Unlike a bar magnet, however Earth’s magnetic field changes over time
because it is generated by a geodynamic.
The North and South magnetic poles wander widely, but sufficiently
slowly for ordinary compasses to remain useful for navigation. However
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at irregular intervals averaging several hundred, thousand years, the

Earth’s field reverses and the North and South magnetic poles relatively
abruptly switch places. These reversals of the geomagnetic poles leave a
record in rocks that are of value to paleomagnetists in calculating
geomagnetic fields in the past. Such information in turn is helpful in
studying the motions of continents and ocean floors in the process of
plate tectonics. The magnetosphere is the region above the ionosphere
and extends several tens of thousands of kilometres into space,
protecting the earth from the charged particles of the solar wind and
cosmic rays that would otherwise strip away the upper atmosphere
including the ozone layer one stripping mechanism is for gas to be
caught in bubbles of magnetic field which are ripped off by solar winds.

The intensity of the field is often measured in gauss ( G), but is

generally reported in nanoteslas (nT), with 1G = 100,000nT. A
nanotesla is also referred to as a gamma (γ). The tesla is the SI unit of
the magnetic field, B. The field ranges between approximately 25000
and 65000 nT (0.25 - 0.65G).
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Near the surface of the Earth, its magnetic field can be closely
approximated by the field of a magnetic dipole positioned at the centre
of the earth and tilted at an angle of about 10° with respect to the
rotational axis of the Earth. The dipole is roughly equivalent to a
powerful bar magnet, with its South Pole pointing towards the
geomagnetic North Pole. The North Pole of a magnet is so defined
because if allowed to rotate freely, it points roughly northward (in the
geographic sense). Since the north pole of a magnet attracts the south
poles of other magnet and repels the north pole, it must be attracted to
the south pole.
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Protocol:
1. Materials required:
White paper sheet, drawing board, adhesive tape, bar magnet, iron
fillings and magnetic compass.

Procedure:
• Fix a sheet of white paper on a drawing board using some adhesive
material.
• Place a bar magnet in the centre of it.
• Sprinkle some iron fillings uniformly around the bar magnet.
• Now tap the board gently.
• Observe the pattern in which the iron fillings arrange themselves.
• Use a magnetic compass to determine the direction of field lines.

2. Apparatus:
Accumulator, rheostat, ammeter, commutator, tangent galvanometer.
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Principle and Formulae:

• The reduction factor of tangent galvanometer is K= I / tan θ
where I is the current flowing through tangent galvanometer
which produces the deflection θ.
• The horizontal intensity of earth’s magnetic field at a place B h
= µonK/2r, where n is the number of turns of coil, µo = 4π x 10-7
N A-2 is the permeability of free space, K is the reduction factor
of the tangent galvanometer and r is the radius of the coil of the
tangent galvanometer.

Circuit Diagram:

When a bar magnet is suspended in two magnetic fields B and Bh, it

comes to rest making and angle θ with the direction of Bh.
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Procedure:
The circuit is made as shown in the diagram. The plane of the coil is
made vertical by adjusting the levelling screws. The plane of the coil is
made parallel to (90-90) in the compass box. The whole tangent
galvanometer is rotated to read (0-0) at the ends of the aluminium
pointer. Now the plane of the coil is in the magnetic meridian.
The commutator keys are put. The rheostat should be adjusted for
deflection in the tangent galvanometer between 10 and 60. For a current
I, the deflections of the pointer θ1 and θ2 are noted. The commutator is
reversed. The deflections of the pointer θ3 and θ4 are noted. The
average of the four readings is the deflection θ. From the theory of
tangent galvanometer, I = K tan θ.
By varying the current the experiment is repeated. Using a string the
circumference of the coil is measured. Hence its radius is found. Let n
be the number of turns of the coil. The horizontal intensity at the place
is given by Bh = µonK/2r.

Mean K =
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 The reduction factor of TH =

 Number of turns of the coil =
 Circumference of the coil (S) = 2πr =
 Radius of the coil r = S/2π =
 Horizontal intensity at the place Bh = µonK/2r
= 2πnK x 10-7 /r
For different values of current I, deflections are noted and values
are calculated. Knowing K, n and r the value of horizontal intensity
Bh can be calculated.

Result:
1. The reduction factor of Tangent Galvanometer, K =
2. Horizontal intensity at the place, Bh=

Conclusion:
Experiment in tangent galvanometer gives the reduction factor of
galvanometer and horizontal intensity of Earth’s magnetic field.