Iron is ferromagnetic and lead is diamagnetic, which means its magnetic domains respond in the opposite direction of ferromagnets but many orders of magnitude more weakly. The two blocks are placed in a magnetic field that points to the right. Which of the following best represents the orientations of the dipoles when the field is present?

Video Transcript

This is College Physics Answers with Shaun Dychko. The domains inside a ferro- magnetic material like iron will align with the external magnetic field that's applied. It says the magnetic field points to the right and so we can definitely exclude this answer, and exclude this answer because it has to be iron pointing to the right in alignment with the applied external magnetic field. So then the next question is which picture for lead is accurate? We're told that since lead is diamagnetic, and it has magnetic domains that respond much more weakly than the domains of the ferro-magnetic material, we should expect that the alignment is not as orderly as it is in the iron. so that means this is the answer, B.