Magnetism is the force exerted by magnets when they attract or repel each other.
Magnetism is caused by the motion of electric charges.
Every substance is made up of tiny units called atoms. Each atom has electrons,
particles that carry electric charges. Spinning like tops, the electrons circle the
nucleus, or core, of an atom. Their movement generates an electric current and
causes each electron to act like a microscopic magnet.
In most substances, equal numbers of electrons spin in opposite directions, which
cancels out their magnetism. That is why materials such as cloth or paper are said
to be weakly magnetic. In substances such as iron, cobalt, and nickel, most of the
electrons spin in the same direction. This makes the atoms in these substances
strongly magnetic—but they are not yet magnets.
To become magnetized, another strongly magnetic substance must enter the magnetic
field of an existing magnet. The magnetic field is the area around a magnet that
has magnetic force.
All magnets have north and south poles. Opposite poles are attracted to each other,
while the same poles repel each other. When you rub a piece of iron along a magnet,
the north-seeking poles of the atoms in the iron line up in the same direction. The
force generated by the aligned atoms creates a magnetic field. The piece of iron
has become a magnet.
Some substances can be magnetized by an electric current. When electricity runs
through a coil of wire, it produces a magnetic field. The field around the coil
will disappear, however, as soon as the electric current is turned off.
Geomagnetic Poles
The Earth is a magnet. Scientists do not fully understand why, but they think the
movement of molten metal in the Earth’s outer core generates electric currents. The
currents create a magnetic field with invisible lines of force flowing between the
Earth’s magnetic poles.
The geomagnetic poles are not the same as the North and South Poles. Earth’s
magnetic poles often move, due to activity far beneath the Earth’s surface. The
shifting locations of the geomagnetic poles are recorded in rocks that form when
molten material called magma wells up through the Earth’s crust and pours out as
lava. As lava cools and becomes solid rock, strongly magnetic particles within the
rock become magnetized by the Earth’s magnetic field. The particles line up along
the lines of force in the Earth’s field. In this way, rocks lock in a record of the
position of the Earth’s geomagnetic poles at that time.
Strangely, the magnetic records of rocks formed at the same time seem to point to
different locations for the poles. According to the theory of plate tectonics, the
rocky plates that make up the Earth’s hard shell are constantly moving. Thus, the
plates on which the rocks solidified have moved since the rocks recorded the
position of the geomagnetic poles. These magnetic records also show that the
geomagnetic poles have reversed—changed into the opposite kind of pole—hundreds of
times since the Earth formed.
Earth’s magnetic field does not move quickly or reverse often. Therefore, it can be
a useful tool for helping people find their way around. For hundreds of years,
people have used magnetic compasses to navigate using Earth’s magnetic field. The
magnetic needle of a compass lines up with Earth’s magnetic poles. The north end of
a magnet points toward the magnetic north pole.
Earth’s magnetic field dominates a region called the magnetosphere, which wraps
around the planet and its atmosphere. Solar wind, charged particles from the sun,
presses the magnetosphere against the Earth on the side facing the sun and
stretches it into a teardrop shape on the shadow side.
The magnetosphere protects the Earth from most of the particles, but some leak
through it and become trapped. When particles from the solar wind hit atoms of gas
in the upper atmosphere around the geomagnetic poles, they produce light displays
called auroras. These auroras appear over places like Alaska, Canada and
Scandinavia, where they are sometimes called “Northern Lights.” The “Southern
Lights” can be seen in Antarctica and New Zealand.
magnetism
The iron in the sand is magnetic, strongly attracted to th
