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Magnetism and Matter
Question
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Steel is preferred for making permanent magnets whereas soft iron is preferred for making electromagnets. Give one reason.   

Answer

Since, steel has a high factor of coercivity, it is preferred for making permanent magnets. 
Soft iron is used for making electromagnets because of its high permeability and also, hysteresis loop is narrow. Therefore, energy loss per volume per cycle will be small. 

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Some More Questions From Magnetism and Matter Chapter

Answer the following question:
The earth may have even reversed the direction of its field several times during its history of 4 to 5 billion years. How can geologists know about the earth's field in such distant past?

Answer the following question:
The earth’s field departs from its dipole shape substantially at large distances (greater than about 30,000 km). What agencies may be responsible for this distortion?

A bar magnet of magnetic moment 1.5 JT–1 lies aligned with the direction of a uniform magnetic field of 0.22 T.
(a) What is the amount of work required by an external torque to turn the magnet so as to align its magnetic moment: (i) normal to the field direction, (ii) opposite to the field direction?
(b)    What is the torque on the magnet in cases (i) and (ii)?