Interactions of Two Classical Magnetic Dipoles

Forces

Given a magnetic dipole m at the origin of a coodinate system the magnetic eld it generates is given by B(r) = 20 m 3 0 [3(m ) m] + rr (r) 4r3 3

Assume we have another magnetic dipole m situated at r = 0 which according to theory will experience a force given by F= (m B(r)) = 0 4 1 [3(m )(m ) m m ] r r r3

To evaluate this expression we use subscript notation in a rather straightforward (though admittedly messy) manner 4 Fi = 0 xi mj mj 3mj xj mk xk 5/2 (xl xl ) (xl xl )3/2 xj xk 1 = 3mj mk mj mk xi (xl xl )5/2 xi (xl xl )3/2 5 xj xk ij xk + xj ik 1 3 2xi mj mk 2xi = 3mj mk 2 (xl xl )7/2 2 (xl xl )5/2 (xl xl )5/2 mj mj xi m xk mi + mk xj mi 5mj xj mk xk xi =3 k 3 3 (xl xl )5/2 (xl xl )7/2 (xl xl )5/2 3 = 4 [(m )m + (m )m (5(m )(m ) + m m )]i r r r r r r

or summarily 30 [(m )m + (m )m (5(m )(m ) + m m )] r r r r r 4r4

F=

This is arguably a fairly messy expression but does illuminate that the force is proportional to r4 and in what way the direction of the resulting force is dependent on the relative orientations of m, m and r respectively. 1

Torque

We know from theory that the torque experiences by a dipole m in a magnetic eld is given by =m B and the magnetic eld we are considering once again is one generated by a magnetic dipole m situated at the origin. 0 0 [3(m ) m]) = rr [3(m )(m ) m m] r r 4r3 4r3

=m