Question

Which of the following actions will not make a magnet lose its magnetic properties?
A. Drop a magnet from height
B. Hammer a magnet
C. Pass electric current from a current
D. Heat a magnet

Answer 1

Hint : While attempting questions on magnetism, keep in mind the fundamentals behind how a magnet gains and loses its magnetic properties. Magnets can lose or gain more magnetism by various factors, many which are readily available in environments like heat, pressure etc.

Complete step-by-step solution:
When we talk about magnets, we need to fully understand how a magnet works. In magnets , small groups of atoms band together into areas called domains, where all comprising electrons have the same magnetic orientation. That is how we magnetize them. Now if these domains are disturbed for even a slight bit, there is a noticeable difference in the magnetism property of the magnet.
When we drop a magnet from a height, the force with which they hit the ground is enough to shake the electrons, aka domains which comprise the magnet. This makes the magnet lose its magnetic properties. It is possible to regain that magnetism again by hitting it, but it is a very hard process, and highly unlikely because you have to hit the material in such a way that the correct form and amount of vibrations propagate into the material and hence into the domains.
If we repeatedly hammer a magnet, the force applied will disturb the domains, freeing the magnetic dipoles inside from their correct, orderly orientation. It is this domain and the particular vibrations which gives a material its magnetic properties. So if we hammer a magnet enough to disturb its vibrations, the magnet loses its magnetic properties.
When we study about magnets, we come across a term named ‘Curie’s temperature’. It is that temperature at which the domains comprising a magnet collapse and the material loses its magnetic properties for good. So we can say that when we heat a magnet, the balance between the electrons inside the magnet are disturbed and hence the magnet loses its properties.
In all three cases we have seen how the magnet loses its properties when it is either dropped from a height, or hammered or heated. But when we pass current through a magnet, it actually increases its magnetic properties.
So to conclude we can say that option (C) is the correct answer.

Note: Materials which do not naturally have their own magnetic fields can sometimes still acquire magnetic properties when electric current passes through them. These materials are called Electromagnets and their magnetic field is produced when an electric current passes through them. The field disappears when the current is turned off.