Middle School Physical Science: Magnetism - Magnets and Magnetism — Flashcards

A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, cobalt, etc. and attracts or repels other magnets.

What Makes a Material Magnetic?    
Magnetism is due to the movement of electrons within atoms of matter. When electrons spin around the nucleus of an atom, they cause the atom to become a tiny magnet, with north and south poles and a magnetic field. In most materials, the north and south poles of atoms point in all different directions, so the matter is not magnetic.    
Examples of nonmagnetic materials include wood, glass, plastic, paper, copper, and aluminum. These materials are not attracted to magnets and cannot become magnets.    
In other materials, there are large areas where the north and south poles of atoms are all lined up in the same direction. These areas are called magnetic domains. Generally, the magnetic domains point in different directions, so the material is still not magnetic. However, the material can be magnetized by placing it in a magnetic field.    
When this happens, all the magnetic domains become aligned, and the material becomes a magnet. Materials that can be magnetized in this way are called ferromagnetic materials. They include iron, cobalt, and nickel.