Page:A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism - Volume 2.djvu/54

 Rh no longer within the substance of the magnet, and therefore the ordinary methods of determining the force become at once applicable.

396.] Let us now consider a portion of a magnet in which the direction and intensity of the magnetization are uniform. Within this portion let a cavity be hollowed out in the form of a cylinder, the axis of which is parallel to the direction of magnetization, and let a magnetic pole of unit strength be placed at the middle point of the axis.

Since the generating lines of this cylinder are in the direction of magnetization, there will be no superficial distribution of magnetism on the curved surface, and since the circular ends of the cylinder are perpendicular to the direction of magnetization, there will be a uniform superficial distribution, of which the surface- density is Ifor the negative end, and –I for the positive end.

Let the length of the axis of the cylinder be 2b, and its radius a. Then the force arising from this superficial distribution on a magnetic pole placed at the middle point of the axis is that due to the attraction of the disk on the positive side, and the repulsion of the disk on the negative side. These two forces are equal and in the same direction, and their sum is From this expression it appears that the force depends, not on the absolute dimensions of the cavity, but on the ratio of the length to the diameter of the cylinder. Hence, however small we make the cavity, the force arising from the surface distribution on its walls will remain, in general, finite.

397.] We have hitherto supposed the magnetization to be uniform and in the same direction throughout the whole of the portion of the magnet from which the cylinder is hollowed out. When the magnetization is not thus restricted, there will in general be a distribution of imaginary magnetic matter through the substance of the magnet. The cutting out of the cylinder will remove part of this distribution, but since in similar solid figures the forces at corresponding points are proportional to the linear dimensions of the figures, the alteration of the force on the magnetic pole due to the volume-density of magnetic matter will diminish indefinitely as the size of the cavity is diminished, while the effect due to the surface-density on the walls of the cavity remains, in general, finite.

If, therefore, we assume the dimensions of the cylinder so small