Magnetic Fields for Dummies

iron filings marking magnetic field

The drones who "contributed" to the former eHow.com were expected to fit their content to a standard form. Alleged "how-to" articles needed an introduction, a list of "things you'll need," and a minimum of three steps. If the content was supposed to be a list of facts, the freelancer had to come up with at least three entries. Either way, the author needed 300-500 words of content to hit what the company SEO guru had decided was Google's "sweet spot." Accuracy, sadly, was never a requirement... as is amply demonstrated by the Sciencing.com post "Round Magnet Vs. [sic] Bar Magnet," written by Kim Lewis.

Someone really had to ask? Well, OK: the difference between a bar magnet and a round magnet is that the poles are (usually) at opposite ends of a bar, while the poles are on the "top" and "bottom" surfaces of a disc (round) magnet.

Lewis managed to spit that out, which shouldn't surprise anyone: she was, after all, ostensibly an adult with a college education, and most of them can figure that out. Whether Kim understood what she was writing about, however, is most certainly debatable. Want evidence? Sure:

"Magnetic materials attract substances made from iron, and they also also attract other magnets."

That's all? Nope: magnets also attract nickel and cobalt, certain alloys, and a couple of rare earth elements like gadolinium. A little weak, Kim, but nothing compared to this boner:

"Places on the magnet that produce magnetic forces are called poles..."

Dear lord! This woman actually claims to have a BS – in what, we dunno. No, Kim, the poles aren't "[places] on the magnet": the poles are the opposite ends of the magnetic field. Idjit. Next, we get some lily-gilding in the name of meeting the minimum word count:

"...any magnet that is circular is called round."

No kidding! And finally, Kim explained how to visualize a magnetic field:

"This may be done by placing a sheet of paper on top of the magnet, and then by sprinkling iron fillings [sic] onto the paper. The fillings will align themselves along the field. For a bar magnet, the fillings will form around it, but will clump most strongly around the north and south poles. For round magnets, the fillings will form semi-circles on the paper."

First off, Kim's reference (if she even had one) most certainly said iron FILINGS (only one L), and second, we don't know what "align themselves along the field" means. We do know, however, that the filings will align themselves along the lines of a magnetic field (see image above). Then again, we don't have a Dumbass of the Day award for an attempt to explain magnets. Kim, however, does (as of today).

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