Invisible reach
How Do Magnets Work?
Billions of tiny magnets inside the metal, all lined up and pointing the same way.
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Step 1 of 5
Every atom is already a tiny magnet.
The magnetism is already there. Only the direction is missing. Electrons spinning inside atoms create a minuscule magnetic field. In iron, each atom is a needle-sized magnet all by itself.
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Step 2 of 5
Usually they point every which way.
In ordinary iron the atomic magnets face random directions, so their pulls cancel out and the metal seems unmagnetic.
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Step 3 of 5
Line them up and the pull becomes real.
Stroke iron repeatedly with a magnet and you nudge the atoms into agreement. Billions of tiny pulls in the same direction make one usable force.
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Step 4 of 5
Every magnet has two ends.
The aligned atoms give the magnet a north end and a south end. Opposite ends attract; matching ends push apart, hard.
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Step 5 of 5
You cannot make a single-ended magnet.
Keep cutting for ever and you never once get an end on its own. Cut a magnet in half and you do not get a north piece and a south piece. You get two smaller magnets, each with both ends. Every fragment does this.
Heat or a hard knock can shake the atoms out of alignment. That is how a magnet loses its power.
The short version
Iron is already full of atomic magnets — magnetising it only lines them up. That is why every magnet has two ends, and why cutting one in half gives two smaller magnets rather than a north piece and a south piece.
Try it yourself
Stroke a steel needle 40 times in one direction with a fridge magnet, then float it on a leaf in water. It will turn to point north.