Question

What happens when a piece of iron is placed between two magnets of equal strength and equidistant from both?
A. The atoms in it are converted to tiny magnets and they get arranged in an ordered fashion
B. The already magnetized atoms rearrange themselves in an ordered fashion
C. A cooling effect is observed
D. None of these

Answer 1

Hint: One should think about the nature of substance used and the properties it possesses. There are four kinds of classification of matter based on its reaction to magnets. The four types of classification are: ferromagnetic, ferrimagnetic, antiferromagnetic and paramagnetic materials.

Complete step by step answer:
let us start by observing what each kind of material is and their examples:
Ferromagnetic: Ferromagnetism is the basic phenomenon by which the ferromagnetic materials form permanent magnets, or are attracted to magnets. The most common ferromagnetic materials are cobalt, iron, and nickel.

Antiferromagnetic: Antiferromagnetic materials have antiparallel magnetic moments. Therefore, the magnetic moments still cancel each other out and the overall magnetization. Some examples include chromium, iron manganese (alloy), and nickel oxide.

Ferrimagnetic: A ferrimagnetic material is a material that has atoms with opposite magnetic moments, as in antiferromagnetism. For ferrimagnetic materials these moments are not equal in magnitude hence a spontaneous magnetization persists. yttrium iron garnet is a well-known example

Paramagnetic: Para magnetism is a type of attraction whereby a few materials are weakly drawn in by a remotely applied magnetic field, and structure inner, induced magnetic fields toward the applied magnetic field. Some common examples include, aluminum, oxygen and titanium

In conclusion, since iron is a ferromagnetic substance, when a piece of iron is placed between two magnets of equal strength and equidistant from both, the atoms are converted into tiny magnets and are arranged in an orderly fashion hence option (a) is correct.

Note: We can see in the explanation of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic, we have included iron for ferromagnetic and iron manganese (an alloy of the two materials) and one can get easily confused. So, keep in mind that iron manganese is an alloy and not iron manganese.