Exploring Magnetic Fields with a

Compass
Brandon Lunk and Robert Beichner, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

A
compass is an excellent classroom tool for the explo- to point in a new direction: that of the net magnetic field. We
ration of magnetic fields. Any student can tell you stress, of course, that the compass must be parallel with the
that a compass is used to determine which direction ground so that it only responds to the horizontal components
is north, but when paired with some basic trigonometry, the of nearby fields.
compass can be used to actually measure the strength of the According to the superposition principle, the net magnetic
magnetic field due to a nearby magnet or current-carrying field is simply the vector sum of all contributing fields:
wire. In this paper, we present a series of simple activities
adapted from the Matter & Interactions textbook1 for doing Bnet = BEarth + Badditional = BEarth + Bmagnet + Bwire + ... (1)
just this. Interestingly, these simple measurements are compa-
rable to predictions made by the Bohr model of the atom. Al- If the situation is such that, at a particular region, this addi-
though antiquated, Bohr’s atom can lead the way to a deeper tional magnetic field is perpendicular to the horizontal com-
analysis of the atomic properties of magnets. Although origi- ponent of Earth’s magnetic field (Fig. 1), then the ratio of their
nally developed for an introductory calculus-based course, respective strengths follows the simple trigonometric relation:
these activities can easily be adapted for use in an algebra-
a
based class or even at the high school level. θ. (2)
We performed these activities with our students in a
SCALE-UP (Student Centered Active Learning Environment The angle q is the deflection angle of the compass needle
for Undergraduate Programs) studio at NCSU.2 The most from the magnetic north. If both the deflection angle and the
prominent aspects of this environment are the classroom lay- horizontal component of the Earth’s magnetic field strength
out, featuring round tables to enable face-to-face interactions, BEarth are known, then the field strength of the additional
and the use of frequent, hands-on activities, such as the ones field in the vicinity of the compass can be easily calculated.
presented here. Table I shows the magnetic field strength of the Earth in a
few U.S. cities. These data, along with those for other cities,
The technique can easily be found online.3
A compass works by allowing a small magnetized needle
to line up with the horizontal component of the net magnetic The magnetic field of a long, straight wire
field in its vicinity. In most open places only the Earth’s mag- For this first activity, our students used a compass to mea-
netic field is strong enough to significantly affect the compass sure the magnetic field strength of a current-carrying wire.
needle. However, in the presence of another magnetic field All that is needed for this experiment are two D-cell batteries,
of comparable strength (say, due to a magnet or a current- a small (~0.75 W) light bulb and holder, a ruler, a compass
carrying wire), the compass needle will “deflect” from north with degree markings, and a few lengths of wire, at least one

Table I. The magnetic field strength (component parallel to the

ground) of the Earth at various U.S. locations.3

City Horizontal field strength

(tesla)

Anchorage, AK 1.53 e-5

Los Angeles, CA 2.47 e-5

Washington, DC 2.07 e-5

Miami, FL 2.53 e-5
Honolulu, HI 2.77 e-5
Raleigh, NC 2.2 e-5
New York, NY 2.03 e-5

Fig. 1. The compass needle deflects by an angle q to point in the

direction of the net horizontal magnetic field.

DOI: 10.1119/1.3527756 The Physics Teacher ◆ Vol. 49, January 2011 45

 Fig. 4. The compass deflects by 70 degrees when this magnet is placed
10.8 cm (center to center distance) away.

deflect by an angle q (Fig. 3). Using the data shown in Fig. 3

and the Table I information for Raleigh:

Bwire = BEarth . tan (q)

Fig. 2. With no current in the wire, the compass
points north. = (2.2 310-5 T) tan (20o) = 8.0310-6 T. (3)

This value can be compared to that found using the Biot-

Savart law for a long straight wire:
µ0 2I
B wire =
, (4)
4π r

where I is the conventional current in the wire, measured to
be 0.314 A, and r is the distance from the center of the wire
to the center of the compass needle, estimated to be 0.007 m:
µ 2( 0.314 A) −6
Bwire = 0
= 9 × 10 T. (5)
4π 0.007 m
This turns out to be in good agreement with our measured
value of the wire’s magnetic field, especially considering that
the precision to which our compass deflection can be mea-
sured is about 2o and the precision of the distance estimate
is, at best,  0.5 mm.

Fig. 3. When 0.314 A is run through the wire, the The magnetic field of a magnet
compass deflects by approximately 20o.
For the second activity, our students used this same tech-
nique to measure the magnetic field strength of a bar magnet
of which should be about 30 cm long. An ammeter and a roll along its axis. All that is needed is a small bar magnet and a
of tape may also be useful. Have the students prepare a simple compass. Once again, be sure that the compass is flush with
series circuit with the light bulb and a long, straight length of the ground and is far away from other magnetic objects. Place
wire, but leave one of the connections open for now. The light the magnet on the “east-west” axis so that it is pointing toward
bulb should be included to reduce the current in the circuit, the center of the compass (Fig. 4). Like the previous activity,
but it is also pedagogically useful for the students to observe this is set up so that, near the compass, the magnetic field due
that there is a correlation between the compass deflection to the magnet is perpendicular to the horizontal component
and the bulb’s illumination. Place the compass flat on a table of Earth’s magnetic field.
directly beneath, and near the middle of, the straight length of The magnetic field strength of the magnet can now be cal-
wire so that the wire is lined up with the north-aligned com- culated in the vicinity of the compass:
pass needle (Fig. 2). Be sure that the compass is far from iron,
steel, or other magnetic objects, especially the other parts of Bmagnet = BEarth . tan (q)
the circuit, since these will noticeably affect the needle. The = 2.2 310-5 T . tan (70o) = 6.0310-5 T. (6)
compass and the wire may need to be taped down to reduce
the problem of accidental bumps. Although we used a 70o deflection, this calculation is even
Once the circuit is closed, the magnetic field due to the simpler if the students adjust the separation between the
wire will point east-west near the compass and the needle will compass and wire until a 45o deflection is seen. For this to

46 The Physics Teacher ◆ Vol. 49, January 2011

happen, the horizontal component of the Earth’s field match- Looking deeper…
es the magnet’s field at this distance, since tan 45o = 1. One of the benefits of the macro-micro connections em-
phasized in the Matter & Interactions text1,4 is that simple
Distance dependence observations like the ones presented above can lead to deep
So far, our students have only qualitatively observed that analyses of physical systems. By this point, our students have
the magnetic field strength decreases the farther from the seen that the field patterns for a bar magnet look remarkably
source it is measured. We encouraged our students to play like those of a single current-carrying loop of wire. They even
with the compass and magnet to observe this effect; how- have the same distance dependence. This leads to a direct
ever, they do have the tools necessary to calculate what this comparison of the on-axis field equations for both situations:
distance dependence is. Mathematically, we can express this µ 2 IA µ 2µ
dependence as B loop of wire = 0 3 = 0 3 ,
(12)
4π r 4π r
|B| = k(d)n, (7) k
B bar magne t = 3 .
(13)
where k is simply a proportionality constant and n is the r
power relation that will be determined. It is important for For the magnetic field equation of a loop of wire, the cur-
the students to know that the distance dependence is dif- rent in the wire and the area of the loop are the only two
ferent for different configurations of currents and magnets. intrinsic properties of the loop itself. Their product, IA, is
Our students found this dependence for both the iron bar defined as the magnetic dipole moment, m. By analogy, the
magnet, which we will focus on in this paper, and a long, magnetic field of a bar magnet can be expressed as:
straight wire.
k µ 2µ
magnet
In addition to a magnet and compass, a ruler is also needed B bar magnet = 3 = 0
3
. (14)
for this activity. Carefully align the magnet as before (see Fig. r 4π r
4), calculate the magnetic field strength, and measure the cen- Using this, the students can calculate the magnetic dipole mo-
ter-to-center distance between the compass and the magnet. ment of their magnets. Unfortunately, it is not at all obvious
Now double this distance; the magnetic field of the magnet at where the dipole moment of a magnet originates. Is there a
the new location will not be as strong. The compass deflection current in the magnet? What should the area be? These ques-
angle can again be used to calculate the field strength at this tions allow for an interesting comparison between our mea-
new location. surements and the predictions made by the Bohr model of the
To calculate the factor n, take the ratio of the magnetic field atom. It should be stressed that, while the Bohr model is only
strengths at these two locations: an approximation of our current understanding of the atom, it
B2d k (2 d )n 2n d n can nevertheless provide an introduction to deeper analyses.
=
= n =2 , n
(8) Neils Bohr made the assumption that electrons orbit the
Bd k ( d )n d
atomic nucleus much in the same way that planets in our solar
taking the natural logarithm of both sides: system orbit the Sun. This circular orbit can be modeled as a
B2d loop of current. If we take the electron orbit of the Bohr atom
ln(
) = ln( 2 n ) = n ⋅ ln( 2). (9) to be the primary source of the magnetic moment of an atom
Bd
(neglecting the contributions from the nuclear and electronic
From our sample data, we calculated n to be: spins),
−6
ln( 66.0.3××10 T
) ln( 2) = −3.25. 2
µatom = I ⋅ A = ( e / T ) ⋅ ( π R )
10-5 T (10) (15)
For a magnetic dipole, the theoretical value of n should be -3 = ( ev / 2π R )( π R 2 ) = 12 evR,
(n is -1 for a straight length of wire):
where T is the orbital period of the electron, e is the electron
k
Bdipole,on axis = 3 , (11) charge, R is the orbital radius, and v is its orbital velocity.
r Compare this with the angular momentum of the electron:
where k is a proportionality constant. Again, considering
the precision of both the ruler and the degree scale on the |L| = |R3p| = Rmv sin q = Rmv sin (90o). (16)
compass, this value is in good agreement with the accepted
value. While this method is sufficient for making a simple Since the angular momentum L must be in integer multiples
comparison against the accepted value, you may want your of , we now have
students, depending on their abilities, to conduct a more (17)
thorough analysis by taking additional data points and con-
structing a log-log plot. as an expression for the magnetic moment of one atom in

The Physics Teacher ◆ Vol. 49, January 2011 47

the ground state, for which N=1, as represented in the Bohr Final remarks
model. Because they were able to observe the compass deflec-
As part of their investigation, our students also estimated tions rather than just read numbers off of a computer screen,
the number of iron atoms n in each magnet so that they could our students found these experiments especially enjoyable.
compare their measurements to Bohr’s prediction. Using the In addition to the experiments detailed above, our students
atomic mass of iron, along with the measured mass of one of also measured the field strength of a coil of wire. In fact, the
their magnets: relative simplicity of these techniques allows for their use in
n = (6.02 ×10 23 atoms g
mol ) /( 55.845 mol ) ⋅ (13.26 g )
calculating the magnetic field strength of a wide variety of

23 (18) magnet and wire configurations, including using a known
= 1.43×10 atoms.. magnetic field to measure the field strength of Earth.5,6
Assuming that these atoms are all aligned, an estimate of the
dipole moment of a single atom of iron, based on our mea- Acknowledgments
surements, is thus: Thanks to the National Science Foundation (DUE-9752313,
( 0.76 A ⋅ m 2 ) DUE-0127050, and DUE-9981107) and the FIPSE program
atom = µmagnet / n =
µFe = 5.3×10 -24 A⋅m 2
atom . (19) of the U.S. Department of Education (PB116B71905 and
(1.43×10 23 atoms)
P116B000659) for provided funding for the SCALE-UP proj-
That this value is of the same order of magnitude as Eq. ect. Thanks also to Bruce Sherwood and Ruth Chabay for
(17) is an excellent sign, considering the crudeness of this their helpful insights and input in this article.
theoretical model.
References
Comparison with atomic model of iron 1. R. W. Chabay and B. A. and Sherwood, Matter & Interactions II:
Of course, the currently understood model of magnetism Electric and Magnetic Interactions, 2nd ed. (Wiley, NJ, 2007).
is far more complicated than these simple calculations would 2. J. D. H. Gaffney, E. Richards, M. B. Kustusch, L. Ding, and R.
suggest. Be sure to stress to your students that this analysis is Beichner, “Scaling up education reform,” J. Coll. Sci. Teach. 37,
48–53 (May/June 2008).
based on a number of simplifying approximations to the cur-
3. National Geophysical Data Center; www.ngdc.noaa.gov/
rent model.
geomagmodels/IGRFWMM.jsp .
One assumption that our analysis makes is the validity of
4. R. W. Chabay and B. A. Sherwood, “Restructuring the intro-
the Bohr atom; however, the Bohr model is still widely con- ductory electricity and magnetism course,” Am. J. Phys. 74, 329-
sidered to be a good first-order approximation appropriate 336 (April 2006).
for introductory courses. A deeper assumption made by our 5. F. Amiri and R. N. Jeffery, “Simple experiments to study the
analysis is that the magnetic dipole moment that we measured Earth’s magnetic field,” Phys. Teach. 42, 458–461 (Nov. 2004).
is associated solely with the orbital angular momentum of 6. G. B. Stewart, “Measuring Earth’s magnetic field simply,” Phys.
the electron. In fact, many subatomic particles, including the Teach. 38, 113–114 (Feb. 2000).
electron, carry intrinsic magnetic moments associated with
their spin. Any dipole moment that might be associated with Brandon Lunk is a graduate student at North Carolina State University in
an individual iron atom within a magnet arises from the com- Raleigh, NC, and is currently studying the discourse among students in
introductory physics labs.
plex spin-orbit interactions within the atom itself, as well as
Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC,
the electric interactions within large groups of atoms called
27695; brlunk@ncsu.edu
magnetic domains. Our analysis also assumed that these do-
mains are all precisely lined up; however, this is surely not the Robert Beichner is a professor at North Carolina State University in
case. You may want to show your students some illustrations Raleigh, NC, where he currently runs the SCALE-UP project, serves as
of magnetic domains to further clarify this point. editor for the Physical Review Special Topics: Physics Education Research,
and is the director of the NCSU STEM initiative.
While we do not claim that this simplified analysis is cor-
Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC,
rect, it does provide results that are remarkably close to those 27695; beichner@ncsu.edu
that were observed and it can be used as a palatable starting
point for more advanced analyses.

48 The Physics Teacher ◆ Vol. 49, January 2011