A freely suspended magnet always aligns in the ________direction.

Question

Question

This question was previously asked in

SSC Steno Previous Paper 12 (Held on: 7 Feb 2019 Shift 1)

Answer 1

A freely suspended magnet always aligns in the North-South direction.

CONCEPT:

Bar magnet: A bar magnet is a rectangular piece of the object which is having two poles north and south pole, when suspended freely aligns along the earth's magnetic field north pole, will be pointing towards the magnetic north pole of the earth.
Earth's magnetism is due to the magnetic effect of current which is flowing in the liquid core at the centre of the Earth.
- Earth is a huge electromagnet. Permanent magnets cannot exits above 650 celsius.

EXPLANATION:

A freely suspended magnet does not show exact geographical South and North because the magnetic axis and geographical axis of the Earth do not coincide.
Earth itself behaves as a magnet which causes a freely suspended magnet (or magnetic needle) to point always in a particular direction: North and South. So option 1 is correct.
The South Pole of the Earth's magnet is in the geographical North because it attracts the North Pole of the suspended magnet and vice versa.