Talk:Dipole

Vector field equations

In the section for the electric dipole it says that the equation is formally identical to the one for the magnetic dipole. Of course this has to be true, so I just wanted to rearrange the equations to bring out this correspondence clearly (pulling r^3 out of the parentheses). But then I saw this Dirac's delta-term. Can anybody tell me where it would actually make sense to define the field like that? As I see it, only having the first term would be completely fine, a continuous function multiplied by r^(-3). Also note that the second term has no negative power of r, so this term is actually completely swamped by the first. Apart from that, its prefactor is not consistent with the one of the magnetic dipole. So I would just delete this term in both the magnetic and electric formula, just as I find it in Classical Electrodynamics by Jackson or the german or italian wikipedia. Seattle Jörg (talk) 07:02, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

Have a look at Magnetic_moment#Internal_magnetic_field_of_a_dipole. RockMagnetist (talk) 16:31, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

OK, I see sense in that. Is there a reference? Otherwise I would have to reproduce it by hand. Seattle Jörg (talk) 12:38, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

I have added citations. Unfortunately, I don't have the page numbers for the Brown citations because I didn't add them at the time and now I don't have the book. I'll try to get hold of it again. RockMagnetist (talk) 17:07, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Is the North-South on a sphere dipole figure correct?

For some reason I thought the field lines conventionally flow from North to South, not the other way around, but I could be wrong. — Preceding unsigned comment added by I want a bear as a pet (talk • contribs) 21:03, 7 February 2022 (UTC)

The north and south in the diagram are earth's geographic north and south. I believe this diagram should be replaced with a better one that clearly shows that the sphere is not a magnetic dipole but earth. The current diagram does nothing but cause befuddlement. Rock-Bottom007 (talk) 12:53, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

Changed article status from start to C tier

I think there is enough information to change this from a start class to C tier. I am not comfortable moving it up to B-tier yet. Suggestions of what needs to be done to get it to that point are welcome. TStein (talk) 19:51, 3 April 2026 (UTC)