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Q.Establish the expression for work done in rotating a magnetic dipole placed in a uniform magnetic field.

Chhattisgarh CgbseCGBSE Intermediate Board 2023Subjective· 3mImportance★★★★★
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Since the torque on a dipole depends on its orientation, the work done to rotate it against this torque integrates to W=MB(cos⁡θ1−cos⁡θ2)W = MB(\cos\theta_1-\cos\theta_2), matching the change in the dipole's potential energy.

Consider a magnetic dipole of moment M⃗\vec M placed in a uniform magnetic field B⃗\vec B. When the dipole makes angle θ\theta with B⃗\vec B, it experiences a torque:

τ=MBsin⁡θ\tau = MB\sin\theta

which tends to align M⃗\vec M along B⃗\vec B. To rotate the dipole (e.g. to increase θ\theta), an external agent must do work against this restoring torque.

The small work done to rotate the dipole through a small additional angle dθd\theta is:

dW=τ dθ=MBsin⁡θ dθdW = \tau\, d\theta = MB\sin\theta\, d\theta

The total work done in rotating the dipole from an initial angle θ1\theta_1 to a final angle θ2\theta_2 (with respect to B⃗\vec B) is obtained by integrating:

W=∫θ1θ2MBsin⁡θ dθ=MB[−cos⁡θ]θ1θ2W = \int_{\theta_1}^{\theta_2} MB\sin\theta\, d\theta = MB\Big[-\cos\theta\Big]_{\theta_1}^{\theta_2}

W=MB(cos⁡θ1−cos⁡θ2)W = MB(\cos\theta_1 - \cos\theta_2)

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