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Magnetic Phenomena Quiz
February1962 Popular Electronics
February 1962 Popular Electronics
February 1962 Popular Electronics Cover - RF CafeTable of Contents

Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Popular Electronics, published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

If terms like "magnetostriction," "mu-metal," and "D-ring" arouse your technostimulus receptors, then this quiz on Magnetic Phenomena should be just what you've been waiting for. It appeared in a 1962 edition of Popular Electronics, but the principles therein have not changed since then. I must admit that I had never given thought to the orientation in which bar magnets should be stored when in close proximity to each other, especially since trying to store them the "wrong" way results in them trying to reconfigure themselves to the "right" way automatically. Not mentioned here is that a soft iron or other ferrous metal should be placed across the ends to help concentrate the magnetic fields within the magnets, thereby reducing the possibility of demagnetization due to nearby objects.

Magnetic Phenomena Quiz

By Robert P. Balin

Neither magnets nor magnetism are mysteries to the experimenter. But this quiz will test your knowledge of the basic principles of magnetic phenomena. Mark each statement "True" or "False" and check your answers at the bottom.

Magnetic Phenomena Quiz (set 1), February 1962 Popular Electronics - RF Cafe

1 - The north pole of a compass points to the earth's north magnetic pole.

TRUE or FALSE?

 

2 - If the separation between two unlike magnetic poles is reduced by half, the attraction between them will become four times as great.

TRUE or FALSE?

 

3 - If a compass is placed beneath a wire passing electrons from A to B, its north pole will point to the right.

TRUE or FALSE?

 

4 - Bar magnets should be stored by placing them so that like poles are side by side.

TRUE or FALSE?

 

5 - There is no insulator for magnetic fields. Some metals simply offer more resistance to magnetism than others.

TRUE or FALSE?

 Magnetic Phenomena Quiz (set 2), February 1962 Popular Electronics - RF Cafe

6 - A "D-ring" is usually found on d.c. electromagnetic relay coils.

TRUE or FALSE?

 

7 - When a nickel-iron rod is magnetized, it will grow shorter in length.

TRUE or FALSE?

 

8 - The electromagnet shown here will have its north pole located at the top of the coil.

TRUE or FALSE?

 

9 - An electron passing through the deflection yoke magnetic field and out of the page will be deflected to the right.

TRUE or FALSE?

 

10 - A "keeper" is placed across the poles of a horseshoe magnet to prevent the magnet's field from passing through nearby ferrous objects.

TRUE or FALSE?

See answers below.

Quizzes from vintage electronics magazines such as Popular Electronics, Electronics-World, QST, Radio-Electronics, and Radio News were published over the years - some really simple and others not so simple. Robert P. Balin created most of the quizzes for Popular Electronics. This is a listing of all I have posted thus far.

RF Cafe Quizzes

Vintage Electronics Magazine Quizzes

Vintage Electronics Magazine Quizzes

Vintage Electronics Magazine Quizzes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magnetic Quiz Answers

1 TRUE. The north pole of a compass points to the earth's north magnetic pole which is actually the south pole of a large magnet inside the earth.

2 TRUE. The force of attraction between unlike magnetic poles varies inversely as the square of the distance between them.

3 TRUE. The north pole of a compass always indicates the direction of the magnetic field in which it lies. To determine the direction of the magnetic field, grasp the wire with your left hand with the thumb in the direction of electron flow, from A to B. Your fingertips will point in the direction of the magnetic field.

4 FALSE. Bar magnets should be stored so that opposite poles lie adjacent to each other. The magnetic field from each bar will then have a closed magnetic circuit lying entirely within the bars themselves. Hence, the magnetic fields are least likely to go into nearby metallic objects.

5 TRUE. There are no materials which resist magnetic fields. However, magnetic shields made of high-permeability materials such as mu-metal are used to bypass magnetic fields around the devices to be isolated from the effects of the magnetic fields.

6 FALSE. The D-ring is a shorted turn of copper used on a.c. relay coils to prevent armature chattering. When the magnetic field set up by the coil starts to collapse on alternate half cycles, a circulating current in the D-ring builds up a magnetic field which holds the contacts closed.

7 TRUE. This is the principle of "magnetostriction" used in ultrasonic transducers for sonar and in ultrasonic cleaning devices.

8 TRUE. Electrons will enter the coil from the bottom and exit at the top of the coil. Grasp the coil with your left hand with the fingers wrapped in the direction of the electron flow. Your thumb will point to the north pole.

9 FALSE. Use your left hand to determine the magnetic field around a moving electron. The thumb points in the direction of electron flow and the curled fingers point in the direction of its magnetic field. Hence, the electron coming out of the page will have a clockwise field around it. The magnetic field to the right of the electron will have the same direction as the field of the deflection coil. Since magnetic lines which have the same direction repel each other, the electron experiences a force to the left.

10 TRUE. Almost all of the magnet's magnetic lines of force will pass through the soft iron bar. The "keeper" is usually employed when storing permanent magnets in order to preserve the magnetic strength.

 

 

Posted March 12, 2021
(updated from original post on 6/12/2013)
LadyBug LB5954L Power Sensor with LAN Option - RF Cafe

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Webmaster: Kirt Blattenberger,
   BSEE - KB3UON - AMA92498

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...

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