How Do Magnets Work?

Do me a favour please? Sometime over this weekend send me an email with a ten word or less answer to the following question:

“How do magnets work?”

DON’T do any research. Just tell me what you think right now, from memory. I’m going to (anonymously) use your answers in class Monday.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 11th, 2011 at 3:28 pm and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Responses to “How Do Magnets Work?”

  1. Bernard says:
    February 11, 2011 at 8:46 pm

    I remember creating an electromagnet using some wire, a battery and a nail.

    So possibly magnets and magnetism are in some way associated with electricity, but how I don’t know. Also ‘electromagnetic radiation’ might have something to do with it.

    Thinking about this now I realize that I really have no clue how magnets work and I don’t think I’ve ever really known.

  2. mycroft says:
    February 11, 2011 at 9:24 pm

    “Magnets have a property that attracts some metal objects and repels other magnets.”

    That’s about all I (think I) know, except that if you rub one of those metal objects with the magnet, it will temporarily take on the same magnetic property.

    I’m with B. – can’t explain the science behind it.

  3. washburnian says:
    February 12, 2011 at 12:42 am

    Magnets are some kind of ore that are attracted or repelled towards the magnetic force of the poles – something to do I suppose with the earths tilt and spin.

    Bit more than 10 words but it’s all I could come up with 🙂

  4. Florence says:
    February 12, 2011 at 12:01 pm

    iirc, magnets work by manipulating the aether (most things in physics can be explained either by the aether or a figgy pudding)
    these other points may be interesting for your class as well:
    a.) magnetic forces do tons of work! they’re very energetic..
    b.) the world is overrun with magnetic monopoles.