How do magnets work ?

How do magnets work ?

A magnet is a very special metal. When a magnet goes near a special kind of metal or other magnets, and the poles (sides) touching are opposite, it will pull, or attract the other metal or magnet closer. Also, if the two poles are the same, the two magnets will push away, or repel, from each other. This is called magnetism. Like poles (S-pole and S-pole/N-pole and N-pole) will repel each other while unlike poles (N-pole and S-pole) will attract each other.

Magnets are only attracted to special metals. Metals that have iron and steel attract magnets well. Metals like brass, copper, zinc and aluminum are not attracted to magnets. Also, non-magnetic materials such as wood and glass are not attracted to magnets as they do not have the right particles inside them like magnetic materials do.

A compass uses the Earth's magnetic field, and will always point to the North Pole. A north side of the magnet is attracted to the south side of another magnet. However, the north side of the compass points to the north pole, this can only mean that the "north pole" is really the magnetic south, and the "south pole" is really the magnetic north.