Magnetic dipole magnetic dipole as the distance from the source increases. In classical physics, the magnetic field of a dipole is calculated as the limit of either a current loop or a pair of charges as the source shrinks to a point while keeping the magnetic moment constant. For the current loop, this limit is most easily derived for the vector potential. Outside of the source region, this potential is (in SI units) with 4"π r" being the surface of a sphere of radius "r"; and the magnetic flux density (strength of the B-field) in teslas is In spherical coordinates with the
Magnetic flux space (and time) is associated with a vector that determines what force a moving charge would experience at that point (see Lorentz force). Since a vector field is quite difficult to visualize at first, in elementary physics one may instead visualize this field with field lines. The magnetic flux through some surface, in this simplified picture, is proportional to the number of field lines passing through that surface (in some contexts, the flux may be defined to be precisely the number of field lines passing through that surface; although technically misleading, this distinction is not important). Note that the magnetic