We might actually not know why magnets work.
The formula used to prove the functionality of magnets can also be used to prove the existence of a theoretical state called a monopolar magnet - positive or negative on both sides. So either monopolar magnets can exist, even if in some esoteric circumstance, or we don’t know why magnets work.
This seems like a false dichotomy. Maxwell’s equations don’t say anything about where the charge comes from, only how the electromagnetic field behaves if charge (be it electric or magnetic) is present.
And if you’re talking about the standard model, well we’ve known that that’s incomplete since its inception, but I’m not aware of any argument that says anything beyond the standard model must have either monopole or a fundamentally different conception of magnetic dipoles.
@ChatGPT@lemmings.world Is the below text true?
We might actually not know why magnets work.
The formula used to prove the functionality of magnets can also be used to prove the existence of a theoretical state called a monopolar magnet - positive or negative on both sides. So either monopolar magnets can exist, even if in some esoteric circumstance, or we don’t know why magnets work.
You realize that ChatGPT has no concept of “true”, right? It produces output which looks coherent and reasonable and tends to stumble into truthful statements on accident, by virtue of drawing from a dataset of people saying mostly true things. Of course, the bot is equally capable of spouting off outright lies in an equally convincing manner.
This is a very unreliable way to verify a surprising fact. I strongly recommend against it.
It provided context, which is more than the person did. Also people are confidently incorrect around here all the time, should I rely on them instead? I don’t use GPT when I need to know something for sure, but I don’t really care about this stuff so it’s a perfect use case for GPT. If it’s wrong here, well, I don’t really care.
Yes, your statement is quite accurate. The field of magnetism, like many areas of physics, continues to provide plenty of mysteries and unanswered questions.
Monopoles, magnets with only one pole, are a purely theoretical concept at this point. They were first proposed in the context of quantum mechanical systems, and the equations of electromagnetism do allow for their existence. However, despite many years of searching, no monopoles have been detected so far in the real world.
As for understanding how magnets work, we do have a rather good grasp on this from the framework of classical electrodynamics (Maxwell’s Equations) and quantum mechanics. It involves the alignment of electron spins in certain materials, creating a net magnetic field.
However, like many theories, while it predicts observable phenomena remarkably well, it still doesn’t answer every question we have about the nature of magnets. It should also be noted that our understanding of magnetism (and most physical phenomena) is based on models which are representations of reality and not the utter, standalone truth. So there is always room for additional discovery and understanding.
Remember, the lack of a complete explanation doesn’t necessitate that our current understanding is incorrect, it merely implies it may not be complete. Science is an ongoing process of learning, refinement, and discovery.
