Magnetism

Have you ever felt a secret tug that you couldn’t see? That’s me! I am an invisible force, a mysterious energy that loves to play hide and seek. You can’t see me with your eyes, but you can definitely see what I do. I love to make shiny metal things, like paperclips and keys, do a little dance. I can pull them across a table without anyone touching them, or make them leap through the air and stick to my special friends, magnets. What’s really neat is that I am strong enough to work through things. You can put a piece of paper or a thin wooden board between me and a paperclip, and I can still give it a little pull. It’s like I have a secret handshake that only certain materials understand. Some objects, like iron and steel, know my handshake perfectly. Others, like plastic or wood, don’t feel my pull at all. I can also push things away. If you try to force two of my friends together the wrong way, you’ll feel me pushing back, creating an invisible cushion of air between them. I am a mystery of pushes and pulls, a silent dancer in your world.

For a long, long time, nobody knew my name. People just saw my work and called it magic. Then, thousands of years ago in a place in Greece called Magnesia, some shepherds discovered me. They found these dark, heavy rocks that would pull on the iron nails in their shoes! They called these rocks lodestones, which means “leading stones,” and they had stumbled upon my secret. You can call me Magnetism. The most amazing thing they learned was that if you let a lodestone hang from a string, it would always, always point north. Can you imagine how useful that was? They had discovered the world’s first compass! Suddenly, sailors could cross huge oceans without getting lost. A scientist named William Gilbert later figured out that the whole Earth is my giant playground—a massive magnet with its own north and south poles. But I wasn't alone. A few hundred years ago, a man named Hans Christian Ørsted was playing with a wire and a compass when he saw the compass needle twitch every time he sent electricity through the wire. He had discovered my best friend and partner: Electricity! Soon after, another brilliant thinker named Michael Faraday figured out that if I could affect electricity, then electricity could affect me. He used my power to make electricity flow, inventing the first electric motor. We were a team!

Today, my partner Electricity and I are everywhere, making your life easier and more fun. That drawing you have on your refrigerator? I’m the one holding it there with a little magnet. Do you have an electric car or a remote-controlled toy? I am inside the motor, spinning around and making the wheels turn. When you listen to your favorite song, I am working inside the speakers, pushing and pulling to create the vibrations that become sound. My work can be very serious, too. I help doctors see inside your body with a machine called an MRI. It uses my power to take pictures of what’s going on inside you without ever having to make a cut. It’s some of my most important work. From holding notes on a fridge to powering giant wind turbines that create clean energy, I am always busy. My dance with electricity continues, and together, we are dreaming up new inventions that will power the future. I may be invisible, but my magic is all around you.