Broken Magnets
Purpose
Breaking a magnet always produces smaller dipoles — each piece retains both a north and south pole. This demonstrates that magnetic monopoles do not exist and that magnetic field lines form continuous closed loops (\(\nabla \cdot \vec{B} = 0\)).
Figure 1:
Broken magnet pieces from Edmund Scientific, each fragment retaining both north and south poles despite being separated from the original magnet.
Figure 2:
Modular plastic-encased magnets: three smaller magnets placed end-to-end behave as a single longer magnet. When separated, each piece has its own N and S pole.
Equipment
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