After doing my reseach on my physics project topic, Magnetism, i found that the ancient greeks and the chinese found out that 'strange stones' like chunks of iron have the power to attract metals... Wanna know more abt Magnetism, wait for the presentation. But until then, you can carry on reading more about magnets...
Have you ever wondered how magnets got their name ??? This is how...Magnets gets their name from the Magnates, inhabitants of Magnesia and named by the Greeks, where lodestone is very abundant.
Magnets can be made by placing a magnetic material such as iron or steel, in a strong magnetic field. Permanent, temporary and electromagnets can be made in this manner.
The atoms forming materials that can be easily magnetized such as iron, steel, nickel, and cobalt are arranged in small units, called domains. Each domain, although microscopic in size, contains millions of billions of atoms and each domain acts like a small magnet. If a magnetic material is placed in a strong magnetic field, the individual domains, which normally point in all directions, gradually swing around into the direction of the field. They also take over neighbouring domains. When most of the domains are aligned in the field, the material becomes a magnet.
