# Encyclopedia of electromagnetics

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# Magnetic monopole

 Stan Zurek, Magnetic monopole, Encyclopedia-Magnetica.com, {accessed 2020-12-05}

## Definition

Magnetic monopole - a hypothetical entity proposed on the basis of theoretical calculations, and duality to electric monopoles.

 Support us with just $1.00 through PayPal or a credit card: Animation of field lines around a magnetic dipole and an electric dipole by Geek3, CC-BY-SA-3.0 Gauss's law for magnetic field is often given in a differential form:  $$\nabla · B = 0$$ where: ∇ denotes divergence, and$B\$ is the magnetic flux density.

As a consequence of this equation there should be no “magnetic charge” or magnetic monopole, and all magnetic fields should be produced by magnetic dipoles.

However, Paul Dirac showed theoretically that the existence of magnetic monopoles would explain why the electric charge is quantised, which so far also remains unexplained.1)

The search for magnetic monopole continues and so far no evidence was found for its existence.