5 Fun Facts about Magnets!
5 Fun Facts about Magnets 🧲
Have you ever wondered how magnets work? Did you know that magnets are created by aligning electron magnetic fields?
Every material is made up of atoms. Each atom has electrons, which carry electric charges. These electrons spin around the nucleus of the atom, creating tiny magnetic fields. In most materials, these tiny magnetic fields are randomly oriented, so they cancel each other out. However, in magnetic materials (like iron, nickel, or cobalt), many of their atoms' magnetic fields align, creating regions called magnetic domains. When these magnetic domains align in the same direction, the material itself becomes magnetized and creates a magnetic field. Each field has a north and a south pole.
So, one way magnets can be created is by exposing these magnetic materials to a strong magnetic field (this can also be done by using an electric current). This aligns the magnetic domains in the material, turning it into a permanent magnet!
Here's some other fun facts about magnets:
The Earth itself is a giant magnet, with a magnetic field that protects us from harmful solar radiation. The Earth's magnetic fields aren't fixed, and can actually shift over time. Here's a pretty comprehensive article that explains how the Earth's fields might even flip:
Is Earth's Magnetic Field on The Verge of Flipping Over? An Expert Explains. : ScienceAlert
The first natural magnets were lodestones, which are naturally magnetized pieces of magnetite. In the second century BC, Chinese scientists used lodestones to create the first compasses.
The strength of a magnet is measured in Gauss or Tesla. The strongest magnets are made of a mixture of the elements neodymium, iron, and boron.
Some animals can sense magnetism, and they use the Earth's magnetic field to guide them while migrating! Some of these animals include birds, turtles, and even some kinds of bacteria!
Magnets have all kinds of applications, including electromagnets in devices like speakers and MRI machines, Maglev (magnetic levitation) trains (which float above the tracks to travel at high speeds with minimal friction), as storage devices in hard drives (where data can be stored by magnetizing regions of the disk in different directions to represent binary data), or even as a form of therapy (although its debated how effective it is).
Magnets are all around us!