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This is a high school question, so apologies if it's dumb.

I have data from an experiment in which I placed two vertically aligned bar magnets ($N$ to $S$) at various distances, with the bottom one resting on an electronic scale.

The question is: Why isn't the data producing a constant when I divide the force at x distance by the force at 2x distance? Shouldn't all inverse relationships produce a constant if you divide by the same ratio?

It's not showing in my data though, for example: $\frac{force~at~0.5cm} {force at 1cm} = 1.82647$, whereas $\frac{force~at~1cm} {force~at~2cm} = 2.29486$

This value keeps increasing as I go down the line and I have no idea why. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Abbreviation of data:

distance (cm) force (N)
$0.5$ $1.74219$
$1$ $0.95386$
$2$ $0.41565$
$3$ $0.19980$
$4$ $0.12125$
$5$ $0.07403$
$6$ $0.04970$
$7$ $0.03581$
$8$ $0.02547$
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  • $\begingroup$ Can you explain how you measure the force? One magnet is resting on an set of scales and the other is held above it? Did you zero the scale? Also, I'm not at all convinced there should be a simple inverser proportionality. $\endgroup$
    – jacob1729
    Commented Apr 9, 2021 at 14:06
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    $\begingroup$ Why would you expect the force to decrease as the inverse distance? $\endgroup$
    – nasu
    Commented Apr 9, 2021 at 14:10
  • $\begingroup$ @jacob1729 that sums up the experiment and yes the scale was zeroed. The results are from multiplying the absolute mass shown on the scale by 9.81. $\endgroup$
    – mcbudder
    Commented Apr 9, 2021 at 22:06
  • $\begingroup$ @nasu if you mean why I assumed it's an inverse relationship, isn't that something I can just interpret from data? I'm so confused sorry $\endgroup$
    – mcbudder
    Commented Apr 9, 2021 at 22:11

2 Answers 2

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Why isn't the data producing a constant when I divide the force at x distance by the force at 2x distance? Shouldn't all inverse relationships produce a constant if you divide by the same ratio?

Let me address both questions.

To answer the first question: because the relationship between force and distance is non-linear. The data you collected via your experiment shows an inverse relationship between force and distance (the greater the distance the lower the force and vice versa), which you already know but brings me to the other question.

To answer the second question: no, all inverse relationships don't produce a constant if you divide by the same ratio. The key word is relationship; there's a particular relationship called proportionality which is for linear relationships only, in this case, when you have a variable $a$ inversely proportional to another variable $b$ this means that $$a=\frac{k}{b} \ \mbox{ or if you prefer } \ a*b=k $$ where $k$ is a constant. Notice that this is what you're thinking about, but a relationship is a more general term which you're confusing with this special case of relationship called proportionality. So take the case you have between force ($F$) and distance ($d$), because as you have proved clearly $$F*d\neq k$$ In this case there isn't an inverse proportionally relationship, and you actually just say that there's an inverse relationship. Also when you are dividing between the forces (i.e. comparing the same variable) you are thinking about direct proportionality $\frac{F_1}{F_2}=k$ and this is also not true because force depends on distance and as you saw it does so in a non-linear manner.

A really easy way to check which is it for your data is to simply plot it in a graph, if it's proportional you'll get a line, if it isn't you'll get something else, like in your case: enter image description here


Analysis Requested by post author

Is there no way I can show in my data analysis that at double the distance, force is decreased a certain factor?

Yes you can. If you plot your data with the best trend line (i.e. the mathematical model that better explains the data) you'll get this: Data with trend line

This means you can model the relationship of your data as $$F=0.8621*d^{-1.55}$$ Or if you prefer $$F=\frac{0.8621}{d^{1.55}}$$ Notice the equation shows the inverse relationship between $F$ and $d$ but also notice that it is a non-linear equation. Also, that $R^2$ factor there is an statistical coefficient to test correlation between the variables, the closer it is to $1$ the better the mathematical model to explain the data. So in this case you've got $R^2=0.9724$ pretty decent uh?

You also talked about linearization and how you gave a simple estimate for the model. A simple way to linearize your data would be to simply plot the relation between force ($F$) and inverse of distance ($1/d$) and you'll get this neat linear plot: enter image description here

And notice that this model has a better score as $R^2=0.994$ as the mathematical expression $$F=0.9423\frac{1}{d}-0.092$$ explains better the relationship between $F$ and $1/d$ (which could be estimated as directly proportional) than the other model explains the relationship between $F$ and $d$ (which are inversely related).

Pick the one you prefer and to estimate the double of the distance ($2d$) simply replace in the one you picked, here I'll do it in both.

Model 1 ($F$ vs $2d$) $$F=\frac{0.8621}{(2d)^{1.55}}=\frac{0.8621}{2^{1.55}d^{1.55}}$$

Model 2 ($F$ vs $1/2d$) $$F=0.9423\frac{1}{2d}-0.092$$

PS: my focus here was on the data, i.e., I'm assuming the experiment and measurements to be correct.

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  • $\begingroup$ So the relationship is inverse but not proportional inverse? $\endgroup$
    – mcbudder
    Commented Apr 9, 2021 at 22:12
  • $\begingroup$ Is there no way I can show in my data analysis that at double the distance, force is decreased a certain factor? (Which in this case it should be decreased by a factor of 16 since I've been able to linearise the data by assuming that the relationship is F ∝ 1/r^4) $\endgroup$
    – mcbudder
    Commented Apr 9, 2021 at 22:18
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, the relationship is inverse but not proportionally inverse. Of course you can, but first you'd need a reasonable mathematical model that better fits the data. I'll provide both a reasonable model and a better model estimate for linearization. I'll edit the answer and add a more elaborate section for you to see what I mean :). $\endgroup$
    – Drakkar
    Commented Apr 9, 2021 at 23:36
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Each of the two magnets contains billions of atomic magnetic dipoles. Their response to the field from the other magnet would be about the same as if each magnet had a sheet of electric current flowing around their outer surface (giving the same dipole moment/unit volume). Each small loop of current (or atom) experiences a force which depends on the strength and rate of spread of the external field (but only a torque in a unform field). Outside the end of a bar magnet, both the field strength and the rate of spread decrease in a complex fashion with increasing distance (and along the length of the other bar). You should not expect to see a simple relationship between force and distance.

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