What Are Magnets?

Have you ever wondered how that report card or shopping list stays on the fridge even after being left there for weeks on end?

Only held there by the application of one tiny flip flop magnet bought for you by some aunt who went on vacation last year!

Well, here we’ll look into the wonderful world of magnets, from the natural to the less so natural, and the many uses these objects have.

So, without further ado, let’s begin!

A magnet, or a magnetic material, is an object that has 2 poles, north and south, that attracts other magnetic objects and sticks them together. They do this through attraction.

The poles are attracted to one another, so south gravitates toward north, and north toward south.

But if you try and put the same two together, they will repel one another constantly. But you already knew that right?

There are numerous types of magnets – they include natural magnetic materials, such as alnico which is an iron alloy, and electromagnets which are created by coiled wire and a current going through it.

Unlike alloys like alnico, the magnetism of electromagnets ceases as soon as the electricity stops flowing, which can be very handy for an array of the modern uses of magnets.