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magnetism: Quick Facts

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Photos and Videos

Diagram showing a circular loop of wire with an electric current, surrounded by curved blue lines representing magnetic field lines that loop around the wire and pass through its center.
Diagram showing a segment of wire carrying electric current, with labeled axes and arrows indicating the direction and magnitude of the magnetic field at various points around the wire. The wire runs horizontally, and magnetic field vectors are shown at numbered positions, illustrating how the field varies with distance and orientation.
Two diagrams show the magnetic field around a long straight wire carrying current. Panel A presents an end view with concentric circular field lines around the wire, current flowing toward the viewer. Panel B shows a three-dimensional view with the wire angled across the image and circular magnetic field lines surrounding it.
Diagram showing magnetic field lines around a small horizontal current loop at the center, with arrows indicating the field direction created by a clockwise current when viewed from above.
Diagram showing the magnetic force on moving charges: positive and negative charges move along the y-axis in a magnetic field pointing up the z-axis, with force vectors perpendicular to both velocity and field direction.
Diagram showing the right-hand rule for magnetic force: a hand with fingers pointing upward represents the magnetic field direction, the thumb points right for current direction, and the palm faces the direction of the resulting force. A coordinate system and arrows illustrate these directions.
Diagram showing four pairs of current loops with arrows indicating current direction and magnetic dipole moment. The diagram labels each pair as causing either attraction or repulsion based on the relative orientation of the loops.
Diagram showing four pairs of small bar magnets in different orientations: opposite poles facing attract, like poles facing repel, with labels indicating attraction or repulsion due to magnetism.
Diagram showing a small copper sample suspended between the north and south poles of an electromagnet, with magnetic field lines concentrated around the sample in an inhomogeneous magnetic field.
Diagram of an electromagnet featuring a coil of wire wound around a circular iron core with a visible small gap, illustrating a toroidal winding used to generate magnetism.
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Key People

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Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa
Soviet physicist
Pierre Curie
Pierre Curie
French chemist
Plücker, Julius
Julius Plücker
German mathematician and physicist
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John B. Goodenough
American physicist
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Peter Peregrinus of Maricourt
French scientist
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Louis-Eugène-Félix Néel
French physicist
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Franz Maria Ulrich Theodor Hoch Aepinus
German physicist
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Pierre-Ernest Weiss
French physicist
Gilbert, William
William Gilbert
English scientist
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John H. Van Vleck
American physicist and mathematician
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John Canton
British physicist