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Geometrical simplification of the dipole-dipole interaction formula

Many students meet quite early this dipole-dipole potential energy when they are taught electrostatics or magnetostatics, and it is also a very popular formula, featured in the encyclopedias. We show that by a simple rewriting of the formula it becomes apparent that for example, by reorienting the two dipoles, their attraction can become exactly twice as large. The physical facts are naturally known, but the presented transformation seems to underline the geometrical features in a rather unexpected way. The consequence of the discussed features is the so called magic angle which appears in many applications. The present discussion also contributes to an easier introduction of this feature. We also discuss a possibility for designing educational toys and try to suggest why this formula has not been written down frequently before this work. Similar transformation is possible for the field of a single dipole, there it seems to be observed earlier, but also in this case we could not find any published detailed discussion.