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this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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What that teacher probably wanted to say was that, while we can explain how magnetism works, no one can tell you why it happens.
Nature doesn't have a reason to do things. There's no 'why' in anything, other than 'the laws of physics make it do so'.
For completeness, we cannot say for sure if we even exist. The universe could very well just be an imagination and nothing really matters, including the laws of physics and our understanding of magnets.
In this year alone, I've had so many things happen that just scream we live in a simulation, it genuinely wouldn't even surprise me if it was true.
Either way, nature is our one true god.
I'm addicted to solipsism. I know I'm meaningless in the grand scheme of things. But I've been thinking that when I die and cease to observe the universe and be aware that it exists, then what's the point of it existing?
Okay, but, with other forces, like electricity, we understand that elections are bumping down the line and the force/motion of that can be used to do work or something.
With magnetism, it's more like, a complete black box, we can see what happens when we do x, but we have no idea what makes it do that. Magnetism it's measurable, we know it exists, we don't know how it exists. We know it works, but we can't figure out why it works.
It's a bit like gravity. We have some good theories, but that's about it.
No! That's the point I'm trying to make! Gravity and its source truly are a mystery (aside from the basic fact that it causes mass to attract other mass, of course)
Magnetism is a well defined component of the electromagnetic force. We know what it is, where it comes from, and why it has the effect that it does. We've known most of this for a century! The study of electromagnetism came early to the field of physics because it's easy to work with and understand on human scales.
To be very short, moving electricity creates magnetism; moving magnetism creates electricity. A permanent magnet is magnetic because most of the electrons are spinning the same way, creating magnetism. That's it.
That is what you tell the grade 4 students.
Later you can teach them about magnetic domains, dipole moment, electric and magnetic fields and their relationship to radio waves etc... But these are all things we know, and I feel like it's important that kids know that humanity has in fact mastered magnetism.
Sure there is still a lot to learn, but at this point it's engineering, not science. Practical things like magnetic alloys or optimal field arrangements for motors.
Therein lies the issue. We don't know shit about the fundamentals of magnetism, other than "it sort of just follows the rules of electricity".
Feynman on magnets and these kind of questions.