Which of the following statements concerning permanent magnet is false? - the direction of a magnet field is indicated by the north pole of a compass-when a permanent is cut in half, one piece will be a north pole and one piece will be a south pole-the north pole of a permanent magnet is attracted to a south pole-magnetic field lines outside a permanent magnet originate from the north pole and end on the south pole-all permanent magnets are surrounded by magnetic field

- when a permanent is cut in half, one piece will be a north pole and one piece will be a south pole

- the direction of a magnet field is indicated by the north pole of a compass

Explanation:

Contrary to electric charges, which exist in the form of single charges (so, either positive or negative), magnets always exist in the form of dipoles: this means that every magnet has a north pole AND a south pole. Single monopole do not exist.

This principle is still valid when we break a magnet into two pieces: in fact, each of the two pieces will still be a magnetic dipole, consisting of a north pole and a south pole. So the statement:

"when a permanent is cut in half, one piece will be a north pole and one piece will be a south pole"

is wrong and does not apply to permanent magnet (or to any other magnet).

Moreover, the statement

"the direction of a magnet field is indicated by the north pole of a compass"

is also incorrect: in fact, the needle of a compass points towards the south pole of the magnetic field in which it is immersed, not towards the north pole. For instance, if we consider the Earth's magnetic field, the needle of a compass points towards the geographic North Pole, which corresponds actually to the magnetic South Pole.

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