Question
A bar magnet is oriented so that the north pole of the bar magnet points north. A compass needle is placed to the north of the bar magnet. In which direction does the north pole of the compass needle point?
- North
- East
- South
- West
Final Answer
(a)
Solution video
OpenStax College Physics for AP® Courses, Chapter 22, Problem 1 (Test Prep for AP® Courses)
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Video Transcript
This is College Physics Answers with Shaun Dychko. With a bar magnet having its north end pointing to the north, the south end of a compass needle is going to point towards the north end of the bar magnet which means the north end of the compass needle is going to point north which means it's pointing to the southern magnetic pole of the earth because if this is the bar magnet inside the earth so to speak, and this is the north pole at the top and the south pole at the bottom, the north geographic pole has southern magnetic polarity. This is why the north end of the compass needle points there because the north end is attracted to the southern magnetic polarity of the geographic north pole.