Practice portal › Magnetism and Matter › Bar Magnet and Dipole in a Field

A place where the horizontal component of the Earth's magnetic field is zero lies at

Asked in RS Academy GUJCET booklet · Field of a bar magnet and earth's field

Answer: (4) One of the geomagnetic poles

Step-by-step solution

Idea: with δ the angle of dip, the two components of the Earth's field are B_H=B cos δ and B_V=B sin δ.

B_H=0 needs cos δ=0, that is δ=90°: the field must point straight down (or straight up).

The dip is 90° at the geomagnetic poles, the two points where the Earth's magnetic axis meets the surface; a dip needle there stands vertical and a compass is useless.

At the geomagnetic equator the opposite holds: δ=0, the field is horizontal and B_V=0.

So the horizontal component is zero at one of the geomagnetic poles.

Why the other options are wrong

More Bar Magnet and Dipole in a Field questionsAll Bar Magnet and Dipole in a Field questions →

Reading this solution needs no sign-in. You only sign in to practise against the clock and keep your progress.

Practise this with a timer