• Question: Why do magnets pull stuff??

    Asked by Lil' Rhys to Andrew, Hina, Ian, Kathryn, Leah-Nani, Xu on 15 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Kathryn Burrows

      Kathryn Burrows answered on 15 Jun 2018:

      Okay this may get technical… I mean the simple answer is we don’t know why stuff does stuff, we can just model it and predict it and see how everything in the universe links together to form a delicate, beautiful story. This may be a way to (kinda) explain it though:
      1) Magnets and stuff are both made of atoms.
      2) Atoms are made of protons and electrons which both has something we call charge. Charge is related to the electric field BUT Maxwell developed some really cool equations which tell how charge generates magnetic fields. So every atom has its own tiny magnetic field.
      3) Normally in stuff, the magnetic fields of all the atoms inside the stuff point in random directions and cancel out so that the stuff is not magnetic. However, in a magnet the atoms are arranged in such a way so that all these tiny magnetic fields line up and point the same way so that the whole magnet has a giant magnetic field!
      4) Now if you put the right kind of stuff next to a magnet (usually metals) the atoms in the stuff try to line up their individual magnetic fields with the magnets giant field. Now we have two magnets! Which are attracted to each other and feel a force pulling them together.

    • Photo: Andrew Margetts-Kelly

      Andrew Margetts-Kelly answered on 21 Jun 2018:

      Electromagnetism comes from one of the fundamental forces in the universe. Basically, when charge moves of spins it creates a force called Magnetism.
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      In magnetic the “spin” of the electrons is not random, so they line up and then this creates a magnetic field. In non-magnetic materials the spins are randomly aligned so they cancel each other out.
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      The force of a magnetic field is basically the “spinning” charges wanting to all align with each other, they really really all want to face the same way. If they are all facing the same way they also want to get close to each other, this is the “pull” of a magnetic, When they are not facing the same way they don’t want to be near each other, this is the “push” you feel then you put to North poles next to each other.

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