Fun with Magnets!

This is one of my favorite toys. All I have to do is hold them like this and they stick together without any glue or tape.

Maybe you have a toy like ours, one that has parts that stick together Or maybe you have letters that stick to your refrigerator or to a whiteboard.

Did you ever wonder why they don t just fall to the ground? Well it s, because they use magnets A magnet is something that can put a special kind of force on something else.

A force can be a push or a pull A lot of the time we think about a magnet as attracting or pulling on something else.

The magnets that are in my toy, pull on or attract this little ball and when they get close enough, they stick to each other.

If you have a magnet at home, you can see how it attracts this type of paper clip.

If I move the magnet slowly toward the paper, clip the magnet pulls on the paper clip until the two objects are completely stuck together And once they re stuck, they stay stuck until I put a force of my own on the paper clip by pulling them apart.

You might have noticed that I didn t even have to touch the magnet to the paper clip to get them to stick together That s, because there s an invisible area all around that magnet that can attract certain things called the magnetic field.

You can see how strong a magnet is by seeing how close you have to get to the object before the magnet starts to pull.

If your magnet is pretty strong, it will be able to pull on objects that are farther away than weaker magnets, And a magnetic field can do some pretty neat things Check this out. If I put my paper clip on top of the paper and my magnet below the paper, I can move the paper clip without using my fingers at all That s, because the invisible magnetic field pulls on the paper clip right through the paper, Even though the magnet Isn t actually touching the paper clip it s still pulling on it and that s enough to make the paper clip move, But just because something is attracted by a magnet that doesn t mean it s a magnet itself.

For example, we just saw that my magnet sticks to this paper clip, But the paper clip won, t attract or stick to another paper clip That s, because it s the magnet that s special and doing the attracting Now magnets don t attract all things.

For example, this magnet doesn t stick to me, but it does stick to Squeak s nose The magnet, also isn t attracted to the table, But we already know it attracts the paper clip Hmmm.

I wonder what else this magnet will attract.

I have some spoons.

I picked up from the Fort s kitchen: Let s play a game, I ll hold up a spoon and you and Squeaks can guess if the magnet will attract it or not? Okay, first, let s try this wooden spoon.

What do you think Squeaks Squeaks guesses? No, You re right.

It doesn t attract the wood.

How about this plastic spoon? Squeaks guesses? No again, You re right again.

Magnets. Also don t attract plastic.

How about this spoon? Squeaks guesses? Yes, They stick! So let s see of all the things we tried, the magnet only was attracted to the little ball, the paper clip and the spoon, And there s something they all have in common, something that makes them similar enough to be attracted to my magnet.

What do you think Squeaks Yeah, They re all made of metal, Things that are metal are usually pretty shiny and they re often hard and kind of heavy for their size like how the metal spoon is heavier than the plastic spoon, even though they re around the Same size, A magnet attracts things that have metal in them, but only certain kinds of metal, not all kinds.

Our magnet attracts this paper clip, but not this coin, even though they re both made of metal.

One type of metal that is attracted to magnets is called iron.

People use iron to make lots of different things like fences and gates, some kinds of pots and pans, and lots of tools like nails and screws And when a magnet sticks to a fridge that s.

Because there s iron inside the door, even though you can t see it, People use metals like iron to make something else too.

Iron is one of a group of special metals that people can make into magnets Iron can do both.

It can be a magnet and it can be attracted to a magnet.

If you re curious about what other kinds of things are attracted to magnets, you can ask a grownup to help you experiment. If you have a magnet, you can hold it up to different kinds of things and see if you can guess what the magnet will attract Thanks for joining us.

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