Quiz on Gauss' law for B and Faraday's law: questions 1 to 3

FALSE, TRUE, TRUE
A magnetic (or electric) field is characterized by an energy per unit volume that is proportional to B2 (or E2). However, if a constant B (or E) field already exists, no further energy is needed to sustain it. The permanent magnets in compass needles and those handy things for holding notes on your refrigerator never "run down" like appliances that use batteries.

Of course, a solenoid or other electromagnet uses the current in a conventional metal wire to generate its magnetic field; in that case, energy is needed to sustain the current, but only because of the resistance of the wire. The electrical resistance of some materials vanishes at very low temperatures. Special superconducting magnets use large currents to produce strong B fields over a large volume, and the only energy they consume is whatever is needed to run the cooling apparatus.

The simplest situation for generating a magnetic field is a long straight conductor which carries a steady current. As far as we know, all magnetic fields are generated by moving electric charges. There are moving electric charges and hence magnetic fields associated with every atom. However, only in the case of iron and other ferromagnetic materials is it possible for these tiny atomic fields to be aligned with each other so that they generate a sizable magnetic field on a macroscopic scale.