Magnetic Dipole

A magnetic dipole is the limit of either a closed loop of electric current or a pair of poles as the dimensions of the source are reduced to zero while keeping the magnetic moment constant. It is a magnetic analogue of the electric dipole, but the analogy is not complete. In particular, a magnetic monopole, the magnetic analogue of an electric charge, has never been observed. Moreover, one form of magnetic dipole moment is associated with a fundamental quantum property, the spin of elementary particles.

The magnetic field around any magnetic source looks increasingly like the field of a magnetic dipole as the distance from the source increases.

Read more about Magnetic Dipole:  External Magnetic Field Produced By A Magnetic Dipole Moment, Internal Magnetic Field of A Dipole, Forces Between Two Magnetic Dipoles, Dipolar Fields From Finite Sources

Famous quotes containing the word magnetic:

    We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)