Magnetic field line

The direction of magnetic field lines represented by

the alignment of iron filings sprinkled on paper
placed above a bar magnet
Compasses reveal the direction of the local
magnetic field. As seen here, the magnetic field
points towards a magnet's south pole and away
from its north pole

A magnetic field line or magnetic flux

line shows the direction of a magnet's
force and the strength of a magnet.

The idea of lines of force was invented

by Michael Faraday. His theory is that all
of reality is made up of force itself. His
theory predicts that electricity, light, and
gravity have finite propagation delays.
Einstein's theory agrees with this.

One can make magnetic field lines show

as if they were physical phenomena. For
example, iron filings placed in a magnetic
field line up to form lines that correspond
to 'field lines'.

If there are a lot of lines through a

magnet and not a great space between
them, the magnet is strong. If the lines
between a magnet are far apart and there
aren't many lines, the magnet is weak. A
way of determining the strength of a
magnet is to do an experiment with iron
filings. The iron filings will get attracted
to the magnet and move into the shape
of the flux lines. You then look at the
shape of the iron filings and see the gap
between the flux lines. This gives you an
idea of the strength of the magnet.
The use of iron filings to display a field
alters the magnetic field so that it is much
larger along the "lines" of iron. This
caused by the large permeability of iron
relative to air. Magnetic fields' "lines" are
also visually displayed in polar auroras,
when particles cause visible streaks of
light that line up with the local direction
of Earth's magnetic field.

Magnetic field lines are like the contour

lines (constant altitude) on a topographic
map in that they represent something
continuous, and a different mapping
scale would show more or fewer lines.
There is an advantage to using magnetic
field lines as a representation. Many laws
of magnetism (and electromagnetism)
can be stated completely and concisely
using simple concepts such as the
'number' of field lines through a surface.
These concepts can be quickly
'translated' to their mathematical form.[1]

The actual magnetic field itself does not

have "lines" in it; the "lines" are solely the
iron filings becoming polarized
themselves, reacting to each other and
the field, lining up N and S with respect to
each other in the field. If you could see
the actual fields of force, it would be
shaded and gradient, with a heavier,
thicker shade near the stronger part of
the magnet, fading the further you get
from the source. And in all 3 dimensions,
which iron filing demonstrations cannot
reproduce. Ferrofluids will react in all 3
dimensions and can more accurately
reproduce a field, except for gravity
creating a weight restriction. Holding a
strong magnet in front of a CRT-type
monitor with a white screen can also give
a representation of the fields, without any
"lines of force" visible. The issue with
using ferro/magnetic materials to view a
field is, the materials themselves become
magnetized and change the original field
to include their own influence.

References
 1. Visualization of fields and the
divergence and curl. Notes from a
course at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. [1]

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