Application and History of Magnetic Monopoles

639 Words2 Pages

The purpose of this paper is to talk about magnetic monopoles, their history, synthetic monopoles, and their applications. Although natural monopoles have yet to be discovered and we are still testing the development of synthetic monopoles that are far from perfect, monopoles, with their unique properties would bring dramatic changes to our society and would rapidly move up to the next level of technology. Hypothetically speaking, monopoles could be used to create a magnetic train similar to maglevs, and a unique motor/generator.
What Are Monopoles?
All magnets in nature are dipoles, that is, magnets having both a north and south pole (Gibney). If a bar magnet is broken into two pieces, each piece becomes a dipole (Gibney). Yet somehow, both positive and negative charges, exist separately (Gibney). However, a monopole would only have one pole, either a north or a south, not unlike a normal electric charge (Gibney). Monopoles do not occur normally. However, some scientists believe they could be synthesized. This is an exciting possibility because of the dramatic implication.
History
Magnetic monopoles were firstl proposed by Pierre Curie, but Paul Dirac was the one to develop a quantum physical theory of monopoles in 1931 (Jones). He theorized that if magnetic monopoles did exist, it would answer the imbalance of both charges existing independently and would explain why multiples of the charge of a single electron happen (Gibney).
Development of Synthetic Monopoles
David Hall of Amherst College has led recent monopole research. His team was able to create synthetic monopole particles by chilling rubidium atoms to less than 100-billionths of a degree warmer than absolute zero. The condition causes the atoms to go into the lowest ...

... middle of paper ...

...rstood and discovered all the uses of monopoles, would be of benefit to society. Dirac famously said that he would be “surprised” if nature had no use of such an elegant idea as the magnetic monopole (Gibney). The limitations right now are, of course, that natural monopoles have yet to be found, we have not come up with the correct way to make synthetic monopoles, and a problem with the monopole magnet train concept is using south monopoles would usually move north and vice-versa since monopoles would have one pole or the other (Sandberg). I think that if manipulated correctly when we have figured out monopoles, then we could have a new era of technology possibly including the start of anti-gravity. Also, monopoles could possibly repair Mars’s magnetic field. Ultimately, monopoles have unimaginable potential and I believe that they will be used in future technology.

More about Application and History of Magnetic Monopoles

Open Document