Magnets Come in Many Shapes

• A circular magnet can help contain paper clips.Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
  
  The first image that might come to mind when someone mentions magnets is a horseshoe. A horseshoe is the traditional shape of magnets, but magnets take many shapes and sizes. Bar magnets are long and narrow. They can measure as little as 1/8 by 1/8 by 3/8-inch, or they can measure several inches long have a cylindrical shape. Magnets can also be round and flat. Powdered iron particles are fused to interesting objects and magnetized to create the magnets used to attach pictures to a refrigerator or metal bulletin board.
  
  

Many Materials Can be Magnetized

• Magnetized objects stick to a refrigerator.Jupiterimages/Creatas/Getty Images
  
  Most magnets are made of iron or steel. Other metals such as aluminum, cobalt, copper, nickel and iron alloys can become powerful magnets for special uses. If you cut a magnet into two smaller pieces, you will get two new magnets with north and south poles.
  
  

Magnetic Properties

• Opposite poles attract each other on two bar magnets.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  Magnets have different ends referred to as "poles." One end is a north pole, and the other is a south pole. Opposite poles attract each other. If you place two small bar magnets with north and south ends touching, they will grip each other strongly and develop a greater magnetic field than either single magnet. Try to attach the north pole of one magnet to the north pole of another magnet. The two magnetized objects will move away from each other. Rub a non-magnetized piece of iron or steel in a north-south direction on a magnet, and it will become magnetized. This phenomenon occurs because the rubbing action aligns the molecules in the non-magnetized object in a north-south direction. Take good care of a magnet and you can use it for many years.
  
  

Seeing a Magnetic Field

• A compass needle aligns with the earth's magnetic field.Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  The field surrounding a magnet is invisible. To see the magnetic field, you must have something to help you detect it. Run a magnet through soft dirt several times. The magnet will draw many small slivers of iron from the soil. Pull the iron particles from the magnet, and place them on a sheet of paper. Place the magnet under the piece of paper and move it around; the iron particles will form in the shape of the invisible magnetic field. Suspend a bar magnet via a string tied around the center point. The magnet may rotate for a few moments but will eventually line up in a north-south direction aligned with the earth's magnetic field, with the north pole of the magnet pointing north.