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Expert: Daniel Mazur - 3/9/2010


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1st year college:
Sir, is the static magnetic field around a magnet truly always there, or is it an example of an uncollapsed state phenomena that only comes into being when we try to measure it? It seems to me that there is no way to detect a static magnet field without using something to interact with it, like a piece of metal or a gauss meter, etc. Barring those methods, how can anyone say that the field is always there?  I am losing sleep over this one!

Answer
Hi,
[Q]there is no way to detect a static magnet field without using something to interact with it[/Q]
This is true for everything in the universe. Existence of an interaction (field, force,...) can only be shown by throwing something interacting into its range. It follows that you cannot use only this to distinguish an "uncollapsed state" from a "real" field.
As far as I have learned, magnetic field (of a static magnet or a coil, simply anything) is a real field. As real as you or I - none of us can show their presence in this world without interacting with something in it...
Daniel

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Questions anyone (teenager, undergrad, graduate, professional) may ask on physics, mathematics or inorganic chemistry. Questions may concern subjects themselves or a possible future career in them, if you need advice on a school or hobby project, or you just came across a question that is beyond your current curriculum. I answer bare textbook problems sometimes, but I reserve the the right to redirect you to Physics-Physics section. The kind of questions I like to answer: I just started having science classes at school and they seem difficult, but I enjoy them. Where do I find more information on this, which is not in textbooks but still comprehensible to me? Just leaving high school, and I feel science is really the thing for me. Can you recommend a school and an undergrad program suitable to my inclinations? I am in my second undergraduate year in Physics. We learned the basics of universe expanding this year, the Hubble constant and all that, but invited speakers that gave talks on astrophysics in our department seemed not to agree with this model at all. Is it of any use at all? I am building a [materials research] experimental device for my masters/doctorate thesis and I have the following problem:... I have tried ..., but it still doesn't work. Where might the problem be?

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