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PBS Space Time

Why Magnetic Monopoles Should Exist

Season 7 Episode 31

What happens if you cut a bar magnetic in half? We get two magnets, each with its own North and South poles. But what happens if you keep on cutting, into fourths and eighths and sixteenths and so on? Will we ever get to a single pole? Here's the answer for you: we don’t know! But the idea of magnetic monopoles remains one of physics’ most tantalizing maybes.

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