Properties of Magnets
A magnet is a solid that can attract metals like iron, cobalt or nickel. It can attract or repel another magnet. It can be made of iron, cobalt or nickel.
Magnets are made into many shapes. A simple shape that is useful for learning about its properties is a rod. When we bring the ends of two rod-shaped magnets together, these can either attract or repel each other.
This shows that the two ends of a magnet are somehow different. They are given the names of north pole and south pole. These name comes from the observation that if you tie a piece of thread to the centre of the magnet and allow it to swing freely, the north pole of the magnet would point to the North Pole of the Earth, and the south pole to the South Pole of the Earth.
When you bring the ends of two magnets together, they will attract each other if one is north pole and the other south pole. Alternatively, if you bring two north poles together, they will repel each other. Likewise, two south poles will repel each other.
We summarise this by saying:
Like poles repel, unlike poles attract.