Question

There is no couple acting when two bar magnets are placed co-axially separated by a distance because:
A. There are no forces on the poles
B. The forces are parallel and their lines of action do not coincide
C. The forces are perpendicular to each other
D. The forces act along the same line

Answer 1

Hint:
When two bar magnets are placed coaxially and they are separated by a particular distance then the magnetic force acts either on north poles or south poles of two magnets. Therefore no couple is detected by placing them co-axially.

Formula used:
The formula used here to give the correct reason for the cause is: -
$\tau = \overrightarrow M \times \overrightarrow B $





Complete step by step solution:
When the two magnets are placed co-axially, then there will be two cases:
Case 1. When the two like poles of the two magnets are on the same side, the repulsive force will generate. But the force will act along in one direction only (say x-axis).

Case 2. When the two un-like poles of the two magnets are on the same side, the attractive force will generate. But the force will act along in one direction only (say x-axis) as above.

Also, it is given that there is no couple (or torque) acting between two magnets i.e.,
$\tau = \overrightarrow M \times \overrightarrow B = MB\sin \theta = 0$
$ \Rightarrow \sin \theta = 0 = \sin {0^ \circ }$
Therefore, $\theta = {0^ \circ }$which means the two magnets must exert force in same line.
Thus, there is no couple acting when two bar magnets separated by a distance are placed co-axially because the forces act along the same line.
Hence, the correct option is (D) The forces act along the same line.



Therefore, the correct option is D.




Note:
A bar magnet is a dipole with north pole at one end and south pole at another end. If we cut a bar magnet into two equal small magnets, they are also behaved as magnetic dipoles. We can not separate the magnetic poles, only the magnetic moment of each small piece will be half of the original bar magnet.