What Are Magnets?

A magnet is something that can attract certain metals. It has an invisible force that pulls the metals to itself. This force is called magnetism. Magnets have many uses. They can stick things on, hold things together, and make machines work. Magnets come in different shapes. They can be bar magnets, horseshoe magnets, or ring magnets. A magnet has two ends. These are called the magnet’s poles.  One is called the north pole and the other is called the south pole. The earth is like a giant magnet, with a north and south pole. That’s why people can use a compass to tell which direction they’re going in. The compass has a magnet that is attracted to the north pole. The beautiful Northern Lights and Southern Lights are caused by the earth’s magnetic field.