Let’s play around with the idea of lining up all the mini-magnets inside an object to magnetize it. You’ll need a steel nail (steel is a combination of iron and carbon), a magnet (the stronger the better), and a few paper clips. Here’s what you do:
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If you use a magnet that is strong enough, some iron atoms will remain aligned even after you remove the magnet. In your example, enough iron atoms stayed aligned in order to create a magnetic field strong enough to attract a second paperclip.
Our second paperclips are still staying stuck to the top paperclip, even when the magnet is removed and taken far, far away. How come?
Hi my mom Elizabeth fox.
my name Elinor fox
And I like science.
The nail has iron atoms going all which ways, while the magnet has iron atoms that are fairly lined up. The more lined up the iron atoms are, the stronger the magnetic force. If you randomly swipe the nail with a magnet, you’re not going to line up the domains as well as if you went only in one direction over and over. Check out the reading for this unit to get a better picture of what’s going on.
If you rubbed the magnet and nail together randomly, or back and forth, something other than in the same direction, after magnetizing it, would it “de-magnetize” the nail, like it does when you drop the magnet a few times?