Schematic illustration of a horseshoe magnet.

New Magnet

How Can You Make a Magnet?

 

Materials

  • large iron nail or needle
  • iron filings, from a store that sells equipment for scientific experiments
  • magnet

Try This

  1. Hold the nail near the iron filings. What happens?
  2. Rub the nail with the magnet about 75 times, stroking in one direction only.
  3. Again, hold the nail next to the iron filings. What happens?
Schematic illustration of a needle, iron fillings, and a magnet.

What's Going On?

When you first put the nail near the iron filings, nothing happened. After you rubbed the nail with the magnet, the nail picked up the iron filings. The magnet's field makes the moving parts that make up the nail line up and move in the same direction. This makes the nail acquire magnetic behaviors, just like the magnet. If you try to use the nail as a magnet later, it will no longer be magnetic. The nail's moving parts have fallen back out of alignment. Some magnets are permanently magnetic, while others are temporary.

Schematic illustration of rubbing the needle with the magnet.