Magnetosphere, and can affect things around Magnetic field stretches out into space, in a region called the We now know that Earth is magnetic because it's packed with molten True scientists, Gilbert tested many of his ideas with careful (previously, scientific books had always been written in Latin). (Of Magnets, Magnetic Bodies, and the Great Magnet of the Earth), theįirst big scientific book published in the English language Gilbert's theory was published in De Magnete To navigate because Earth is itself a giant magnet. Photo: We can use magnetic compasses like this William Gilbert answered that question in Why do magnets point north or south? A great English scientist named That little experiment tells us that a magnetic fieldĬan penetrate through magnetic materials such as iron. To pick up a long chain of paperclips, with each clip magnetizing the You may have done the trick where you use a magnet With brightly colored magnets-so you can see that magnetic fields cut You probably have little notes stuck to the door of your refrigerator Magnetic fields can penetrate through all kinds of materials, not Another way of describing this is to say that a magnetĬan "act at a distance": it can cause a pushing or pulling force on Magnets having an invisible magnetic field that extends allĪround them. Nail jumps across and sticks to the magnet. The magnet slowly toward the nail, there will come a point when the Magnet (bent round into a tight U-shape) onto a table and place North and south poles painted different colors) or a horseshoe Suppose you put a bar magnet (shaped like Strength of the magnetic field at each point. In this three-dimensional chart, the height Magnetic fields using a computer graphics program developed at LosĪlamos National Laboratory. Photo: A colorful way to visualize invisible Magnetic material (such as an iron nail), you can convert it into a If you run a magnet a few times over an unmagnetized piece of a.If you cut a bar magnet in half, you get two brand new, smaller magnets, each with.That's because Earth itself contains magnetic materials The north pole of a magnet points roughly toward Earth's north.A magnet creates an invisible area of magnetism all around it.So we have the common saying: like poles repel, unlike poles attract. Magnet, while the north pole of one magnet The north pole of one magnet attracts the south pole of a second.North pole or north-seeking pole, while the other is called a south That happens because the magnet is made of iron, which corrodes (rusts) in damp air.Īlmost everyone knows these six basic facts about how magnets behave: See the trace of brown rust on the top of the magnet's upper "leg"? Said magnetism was the strange, invisible force of attraction betweenĬertain materials today, we're more likely to define it as a forceĬreated by electric currents (themselves caused by moving electrons). Sides of the same coin: electromagnetism. Materials, how their atomic structure causes Of years down the line, we understand what happens inside magnetic To ancient people, magnetism must have seemed like magic. Photo byĬourtesy of Wikimedia Commons (where you'll find a bigger version of this image). It above the magnets you can see the field underneath. Normally see magnetic fields, but if you sprinkle iron filings (tinyīits shaved off an iron bar with a file) onto a piece of paper and hold Poles of two bar magnets that strongly attract one another. Photo: The magnetic field between the opposite Materials) "at a distance," invisibly, through what we call a Magnets is the way they can attract other magnets (or other magnetic (push away)? One of the most amazing things about Remember the force when you held two magnets close andįelt them either attract (pull toward one Remember when you firstĭiscovered that two magnets could snap together and stick like glue? That's because magnets are easy to use, safe, andįun. Playing with magnets is one of the first bits of science mostĭiscover.
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