Magnets

A magnet is an object or a device that gives off an external magnetic field. Basically, it applies a force over a distance on other magnets, electrical currents, beams of charge, circuits, or magnetic materials. Magnetism can even be caused by electrical currents. A bar magnet and its field lines.

Different Types of Magnets

Horseshoe magnet.There are many different types of magnets. Permanent magnets never lose their magnetism. There are materials in the world that are called ferromagnetic. Those materials are able to create and hold a specific alignment of their atoms. Since many atoms have a magnetic moment (tiny magnetic field), all of the moments can add up to create a magnet. Scientists use the word hysteresis to describe the way the atoms stay aligned.

Most of the magnets you see around you are man-made. Since they weren’t originally magnetic, they lose their magnetic characteristics over time. Dropping them, for example, weakens their magnetism; as does heating them, or hammering on them, etc.

 

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Games

Destroy magnets by connecting 3 or more magnets of the same color together