How do magnets work?

A magnet has two ends called poles: north and south. Opposite poles pull together, and the same poles push apart. Try to join two north poles and you will feel them fight.

Every magnet is surrounded by an invisible area called a magnetic field. Inside this field, the magnet can pull iron, nickel and some other metals without touching them.

Why iron? Deep inside iron, tiny parts called atoms act like very small magnets. Normally they point in all directions and cancel each other out. A strong magnet makes them line up in the same direction, and the piece of iron becomes a magnet too.

The Earth itself is a huge magnet. That is why a compass needle always points north — it is lining up with the Earth’s magnetic field.