Magnetic Monopole

[QuietMan]

I don't claim expertise, but I have heard consistently that quantum mechanics not only allows for them, but requires them. The article I linked certainly shows a lot of high caliber talent looking for it over many generations. If you read the article they also think their are a lot of paired monopoles (which cancel), only a slight imbalance in the numbers allow it to be seen.

There is an old saying in physics and astronomy, that which is not expressly forbidden must exist somewhere.

 

[vne147]

I don't think magnetic monopoles absolutely do not exist. However, no one has reliably observed or created one to date. There is alot of stuff in quantum theory that can be assumed based on extrapolation and sometimes loose interpretation of what certain wave functions physically represent. It is interesting stuff and it should be investigated. But unfortunately, science doesn't work by assuming that theory and conjecture is true; it must be testable and repeatable. Both of the articles that were linked about monopoles were unsurprisingly light on theory and math.

 

[mbarazeen]

a real megnetic monopole should have evenly distributed megnetic field strength at its surrounding. like you charge a spare with +ve charge and look at the surrounding field strength.

so even if you consider a very long...megnet or etc, no one could still make a monopole with its right definition.

 

[tcmtech]

There is a way to sort of cheat I think. If you make a hollow spherical magnet and polarize it outside to inside you will have a spherical magnet with only one external pole.

It is a single pole magnet if you think about it being you can not interact with internal pole or any of it field lines.

 

[mbarazeen]

tcmtech,

but is it possible to make it so? or has any one succeeded in it?

 

[tcmtech]

I dont know actually. It just seems like a way around the problem of where the poles have to be placed.
I know very little about how magnets are made and then polarized.
I just do know that making hollow metal spheres is not all that hard though.

 

[QuietMan]

Actually a collimated beam could also be characteristic of a monopole. Without a second pole, only other magnetic fields would bend the beam. I just hope the one they think they have discovered goes somewhere.

I still see people who argue superconductivity can't exist, and that is a well established phenomena.

 

[crutschow]

There is a way to sort of cheat I think. If you make a hollow spherical magnet and polarize it outside to inside you will have a spherical magnet with only one external pole.

It is a single pole magnet if you think about it being you can not interact with internal pole or any of it field lines.

I believe that without a path for the magnetic flux from the inside to the outside, you will have no flux on the outside. It will act as a non-magnetized ball.

 

[MrAl]

Hi,


The old scientists like Newton and Maxwell only had what they had at the time. They could only see, touch, feel, and measure what they could
see, touch, feel, and measure at the time with a little imagination to work with that combination. If they were not wrong it would be more
incredible than if they were. In fact, Newtons theories were not complete and Maxwell made a huge error about one of his theories about
heat and light. Surprise? No way. To be wrong seems to be the only way it could be always having an incomplete view of the universe.
We dont know for sure until we get there, and after that we find out we were wrong again anyway.

 

[Oznog]

I believe that without a path for the magnetic flux from the inside to the outside, you will have no flux on the outside. It will act as a non-magnetized ball.

Correct. It's not a problem of how to magnetize it; if one were to take strong pre-magnetized candy-corn shaped magnets and wedge them together in a vise and epoxy them, there's be no magnetic field.

People tried for years to make monopoles out of dipolar magnets, just like people tried at perpetual motion machines. Until theory showed it was impossible. People did continue to think they could pull it off after that of course, but never do.

At least that's the way dipolar magnets work. All the fields in any type of magnet originate from magnetic domains which are inherently dipolar in nature, as are all electromagnets. Dirac did hypothesize the existence of a magnetic monopole particle, but it has never been proven conclusively. Even if it were, it could be a big step to get from a particle to a substance with macroscopic, readily apparent monopole properties. But note that even that does not hypothesize that there's way to make a monopole out of a dipole. That one's busted.

 

[Oznog]

a real megnetic monopole should have evenly distributed megnetic field strength at its surrounding. like you charge a spare with +ve charge and look at the surrounding field strength.

so even if you consider a very long...megnet or etc, no one could still make a monopole with its right definition.

No, this one:


What that actually says is that if imagine any closed surface around an object, and add up all the magneitc flux coming in through the surface minus that going out, it always adds up to zero. Doesn't require smoothness... nor that there ONLY be flux going in or out. Any imbalance- six hundred units of flux out versus five hundred in- wouldn't ever happen.

If one were to take a very long bar magnet, and draw an imaginary sphere which is smaller than the length of the bar around the north end, the net flux in the AIR around it is all leaving that end. However, there is an equal amount of very dense flux inside the bar itself going into that end. So, no net imbalance at all, and no monopole.

 

[mbarazeen]

what i mentioned is surrounding a megnetic monopole(if exists) the field strength at a particular distance at any direction has to be the same.

you are correct in the explanation, which is more methematical.

 

[MrAl]

Hi Carl,

Originally Posted by crutschow

I believe that without a path for the magnetic flux from the inside to the outside, you will have no flux on the outside. It will act as a non-magnetized ball.

​

Well yes but, that's from what we know TODAY. Tomorrow someone could find out something
new which changes the way we think about this. That's what i mean about
"incomplete knowledge", in that we always have an incomplete view of the universe. We always
think we have it all, then it turns out that we dont when something new contradicts an old theory.
The nice thing is that we can use our imagination first to ask ourselves questions like,
"Is there a monopole?" and then go out looking for one. It's also hard to prove that there is
no such thing because we may not be doing the right experiment yet, or the experiment to
produce such a thing may be extremely hard to do in the lab and of course may not exist
naturally anywhere we look.

It's interesting to note that H.G. Wells wrote about the atomic bomb 20 or 30 years before it actually
was possible, when one of the top physicists said that the energy in the atom "could not be liberated".
Wells used his imagination, but the physicist believed more in his experiments than in historical record.

 

[Oznog]

what i mentioned is surrounding a megnetic monopole(if exists) the field strength at a particular distance at any direction has to be the same.
you are correct in the explanation, which is more methematical.

But no, it doesn't need to be uniform. As it stands with dipoles, magnetic flux must always form a loop. Once there's no loop, the pattern is not specifically restricted. While a uniform pattern is a natural assumption, it could be a ray, in one direction, with no flux at any other angles from the source. Kinda beside the point because there's not really an actionable theory to pursue either way; it's all unobtanium.