Mad magnets

A magnet is a very special metal. When a magnet goes near some other metals or other magnets, it will pull the other metal or magnet closer. That is called magnetism. The most common objects that are attracted to magnets contain iron or steel. Most other metals, including aluminium, are not attracted to magnets. In fact, there are only three magnetic metals they are Iron, Nickel and Cobolt.

The ends of a magnet are called poles. This is where the force of a magnet is the strongest. All magnets have a north pole and a south pole. If a magnet is allowed to spin, then the north pole of a magnet will always point to the north pole of the Earth. The south pole of a magnet will point to earth’s south pole. You can try this yourself by tying a string to a bar magnet and then holding the string so that the magnet can turn.

Magnets are also heaps of fun: