PURPOSE

The purpose of this standard is to eliminate confusion, by providing definitive statements of the conventions involved in determining the polarity of a magnetic field, and by describing basic practical methods that may be used, with necessary precautions. While it might be considered that the conventions are basic text-book material, it is found that few text-books state them explicitly, and disagreement among engineers is observed as a result. Since some electrical or electronic devices may be destroyed, if the magnetic field polarity is incorrectly determined, it is important that disagreement or confusion be avoided.