Magnets on the Computer

So where is the crackling?

As you crumple a piece of paper, little areas bend and crackle. In the same way, as you magnetize a magnet, little areas of the magnet become magnetized.

This is our computer program. It shows what might happen in a piece of a paper clip as it is magnetized. Push Go to see the paper clip become magnetized again. Move the slider to change the properties of the magnet. Some magnets magnetize all at once in a big snap, some magnets magnetize in lots of tiny pops, and other magnets crackle with areas of all sizes magnetizing.

When you rub it with a magnet, the whole paper clip doesn't magnetize at once. Magnetization happens in little jumps. We use color to show jumps. When an area magnetizes, it changes to a new color and makes a jump in the magnetization. The big colored areas are big jumps. The little colored areas are little jumps. Even though you don't hear it, the magnet is crackling!

We've turned the jumps in our program into sounds. Doesn't it sound like crackling noise?