Question

Electric field lines can be shielded by the Faraday cage effect. Can we have magnetic shielding? Can we have gravitational shielding?

Short answer

Certain metals or alloys are having a high value of magnetic permeability like permalloy or mu-metal which can help in the shielding of the magnetic fields.

Faraday cage can not be used for gravitational shielding.

Step-by-step solution

Definition of Faraday cage effect

A Faraday cage acts as a shield between a device's internal components and external electric fields. It works because an external electric field produces a redistribution of electric charges within the enclosure's conducting material, canceling the field's influence on the interior of the cage. Additionally, it provides protection from the electrostatic charge as well as from electromagnetic waves.

Explanation

For the electric field shielding the Faraday cage is usually made of a mesh of metallic wires, and, the same mesh can not be used for the shielding of the magnetic field.

However, certain metals or alloys are having a high value of magnetic permeability like permalloy or mu-metal which can help in the shielding of the magnetic fields. A Faraday’s cage made up of the metal sheets of permalloy or mumetal will help to shield the magnetic field to an extent.

Faraday cage can not be used for the gravitational shielding, because there is no way to block them using the concept of the Faraday cage’s basics.