How can we draw magnetic field lines?

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lywyk0 · Accepted Answer

The answer depends on whether you want to A) draw magnetic field lines conceptually or B) draw actually magnetic field originated by a real magnet.
A) For conceptual drawing, you can easily look up the Internet or a textbook.
B) To draw magnetic field lines coming from a real magnetic, you will need these materials:
A magnet (bar magnet prefer, a piece of blank paper-- legal size preferredList item
A tiny compass (

\approx

1/2" the smallest you can get)
A pencil and scotch tape.
Tape the paper down so that it can't be accidentally move when you are drawing magnetic lines.
Next tape the bar magnetic down on the paper at the center so that the long side of the magnetic aligns with the long edge of paper.
Place the compass at the magnet's north pole, almost touching it. Let the needle settles down. You'll notice the north pole of the compass -- the "red" pointer on the needle--faces away from the north pole of the magnetic, and it should. Use the pencil to mark where the "red" point of the needle is on the paper, right outside the casing of the compass.
Gently slide the compass without picking it up until the south pole of the compass points to, and almost touching, the pencil dot you just created. If the needle is still oscillating, let it settle down first. Then repeat the last step, mark another pencil dot at where the "red" pointer of the compass is.
Repeat Step 4 until you have drawn many of these dots curving from the north pole of the bar magnetic to the south pole. Draw a trend line to connect all these points together.
There you go, this is your first magnetic field line (actually it is called magnetic line of force, as magnetic field don't rally form lines).
Want more lines? Just start from a new location near the north pole, and repeat Step 3-5 above. Repeat the process to generate 30 to 40 evenly spaced lines and you will see a nice magnetic field pattern.
Now you should realize the "magnetic field" is doing nothing more than causing the compass, which itself is a tiny magnet, to change its orientations along a line of force.
(Note: it really doesn't matter where you started the compass, you can start it near the either pole, or on any where on the paper. If you want a unbroken line, start from one pole until it reaches the other.

How can we draw magnetic field lines?

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