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Magnetism and Matter is a short chapter and NEET(UG) usually takes one question from it, sometimes two. Almost all of them come from two places: the bar magnet, with its axial and equatorial fields, and the classification of materials into diamagnetic, paramagnetic and ferromagnetic. Both are memory work, and memory work is the cheapest mark in the paper. Ten questions below. Give them ten honest minutes.
What this chapter carries in NEET(UG)
- Usually 1 to 2 questions every year, which is 4 to 8 marks.
- The three classes of magnetic material are asked nearly every year.
- The bar magnet fields and the torque on a magnet make up the rest.
What the syllabus says
In the syllabus (Unit 13, Magnetic Effects of Current and Magnetism): Current loop as a magnetic dipole and its magnetic dipole moment, the bar magnet as an equivalent solenoid, magnetic field lines, the field of a bar magnet along its axis and perpendicular to its axis, torque on a magnetic dipole in a uniform magnetic field, para-, dia- and ferromagnetic substances with examples, and the effect of temperature on magnetic properties.
Taken out in 2024: earth’s magnetic field and magnetic elements, magnetic susceptibility and permeability, hysteresis, permanent magnets and electromagnets and the magnetic dipole moment of a revolving electron.
Taken from the NMC syllabus for NEET (UG) 2026, the latest one published. See the full syllabus, unit by unit.
Formulas you must know by heart
| Magnetic moment | M = m × 2l, and NIA for a current loop |
| Axial field of a short magnet | B = (μ0/4π)(2M/d3) |
| Equatorial field | B = (μ0/4π)(M/d3) |
| Torque on a magnet | τ = MB sinθ |
| Potential energy | U = − MB cosθ |
| Oscillating magnet | T = 2π√(I/MB) |
| Gauss law in magnetism | total magnetic flux through any closed surface is zero |
| Work done in turning a magnet | W = MB(cosθ₁ − cosθ₂) |
| Field at a point on the axis, short magnet | falls off as 1/d³ |
| Effect of temperature | a ferromagnetic substance turns paramagnetic above its Curie temperature |
Compare the two field lines at the top. At the same distance, the axial field of a short bar magnet is exactly twice the equatorial field. NEET(UG) has turned that 2 : 1 ratio into a question more than once.
Ten questions. Give yourself ten minutes.
Write your answers down before you scroll. A question you looked up is a question you have not answered.
Q1. The magnetic field on the axis of a short bar magnet at a distance d varies as
- (a) 1/d
- (b) 1/d2
- (c) 1/d3
- (d) 1/d4
Q2. At the same distance, the ratio of the axial field to the equatorial field of a short bar magnet is
- (a) 1 : 1
- (b) 2 : 1
- (c) 1 : 2
- (d) 4 : 1
Q3. A bar magnet of magnetic moment M is cut into two equal halves perpendicular to its length. The magnetic moment of each half is
- (a) M
- (b) M/2
- (c) 2M
- (d) M/4
Q4. A substance that is strongly attracted by a magnet is
- (a) diamagnetic
- (b) paramagnetic
- (c) ferromagnetic
- (d) none of these
Q5. A substance that is weakly attracted by a magnet is
- (a) diamagnetic
- (b) paramagnetic
- (c) ferromagnetic
- (d) non-magnetic
Q6. Above the Curie temperature, a ferromagnetic material becomes
- (a) diamagnetic
- (b) paramagnetic
- (c) completely non-magnetic
- (d) more strongly ferromagnetic
Q7. If the magnetic field in which a bar magnet oscillates is made four times, its time period becomes
- (a) double
- (b) half
- (c) four times
- (d) unchanged
Q8. The potential energy of a bar magnet of moment M is least when it is placed in a uniform field B at an angle of
- (a) 0° to the field
- (b) 90° to the field
- (c) 180° to the field
- (d) 45° to the field
Q9. The torque on a bar magnet of moment M placed at an angle θ to a uniform field B is
- (a) MB cosθ
- (b) MB sinθ
- (c) MB tanθ
- (d) MB
Q10. The net magnetic flux through any closed surface is
- (a) μ0q
- (b) zero
- (c) q/ε0
- (d) infinite
Answer key, with a hint for each
| Q1 | (c) | Both the axial and the equatorial field of a short magnet fall off as the cube of the distance, because a magnet is a dipole. |
| Q2 | (b) | Axial is 2M/d3 and equatorial is M/d3, so the ratio is 2 : 1. |
| Q3 | (b) | Pole strength stays the same but the length halves, so M = m × 2l becomes half. |
| Q4 | (c) | Iron, cobalt and nickel. Paramagnetic materials are attracted, but only very weakly. |
| Q5 | (b) | Weakly attracted means paramagnetic. Diamagnetic substances are weakly pushed away, ferromagnetic ones are pulled in strongly. |
| Q6 | (b) | The heat shakes the aligned domains apart, and what is left behaves like a paramagnetic substance. |
| Q7 | (b) | T ∝ 1/√B, and √4 = 2, so the period halves. |
| Q8 | (a) | U = −MB cosθ. The energy is most negative, that is least, when θ = 0 and the magnet lines up with the field. |
| Q9 | (b) | τ = MB sinθ, the same shape as the torque on a current loop. The energy carries the cosine. |
| Q10 | (b) | There is no single magnetic pole, so every line that leaves a closed surface comes back into it. |
Now mark yourself honestly
NEET(UG) marks the way it marks. Use the same rule here:
- +4 for a right answer
- −1 for a wrong one
- 0 for a blank
So ten questions here are out of 40. In the real paper, 45 Physics questions are out of 180.
If you scored 32 or more, the basics of this chapter are secure. Move to harder questions, not more of these.
If you scored below 24, do not feel bad about it. You have just found out something useful before the exam did. Go back to the formula table above, learn it properly, and sit these ten again tomorrow.
And if you guessed a few and they landed, count those as wrong. A guess that works once will not work in May.
The full chapter, on a clock
Ten questions tell you a little. Forty-five tell you the truth.
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