How Do Magnets Work? From Fridge Magnets to Maglev Trains

If you’re still building your foundation in basic electricity, start with this beginner-friendly overview: 🔹 “Electricity 101: The Complete Beginner’s Guide to How Power Really Works”
After reading it, the concepts in this article will make a lot more sense.

Watch first: how do magnets work?

This short video walks you through what’s really happening when we ask “how do magnets work?” in a very down-to-earth way:
from why magnets attract or repel, to how magnetic fields form, and why magnets only pull on certain metals.

We’ll also briefly touch on electromagnets and maglev technology,
so you can see that magnets are not just for fridge doors –
they’re hiding inside a lot of modern tech around you.

Why magnets matter: you use them every single day

From the compass you saw in elementary school,
to the magnets on your fridge,
to the speakers in your phone, your earbuds, and even the motor in an EV –

you’re dealing with magnets and magnetic fields every day.
Most of the time they’re just hidden under plastic or metal housings,
so you don’t notice them.

If you’ve ever wondered:

• “Why do magnets attract iron?”
• “What’s actually going on inside a magnet?”
• “So in simple terms, how do magnets work?”

this article will answer a simple question – how do magnets work? – in plain language,
and give you a solid foundation before you move on to electromagnetic induction, motors, and generators.

The basic idea: start from electrons

To really understand how magnets work, you have to start with electrons.

Inside every atom, electrons do two things at the same time:

• they orbit the nucleus, and
• each electron also spins around its own axis.

Both types of motion create a tiny magnetic moment.
You can think of each electron as a tiny current loop with its own little magnet.

In most materials, all these tiny magnets point in random directions,
so they cancel each other out and you don’t see any obvious magnetism.

In magnetic materials, if you can get enough of those tiny magnets to line up,
you get a noticeable magnetic field – that’s the magnetic force we feel.

Magnetic fields and poles: where do “north” and “south” come from?

A few key ideas:

• Magnetic field – Whenever you have a magnet or an electric current,
  the space around it is affected by magnetic forces.
  We call this invisible region a magnetic field.
• Magnetic poles – Every magnet has a north pole (N) and a south pole (S),
  and they always come in pairs.
  The rule is simple: like poles repel; unlike poles attract.

If you sprinkle iron filings around a magnet,
you’ll see curved patterns forming in the filings.

Those patterns are what we like to draw as magnetic field lines:

• they start at the north pole,
• loop through space,
• and return to the south pole,

forming a closed structure for the magnetic field.

Natural magnets vs. man-made magnets: what’s the difference?

Natural magnets: Earth is one giant magnet

You can think of Earth itself as a huge magnet.

The molten metals flowing in the outer core act like a massive “natural generator,”
creating Earth’s magnetic field and allowing compasses to point north.

The most common natural magnet is magnetite (Fe₃O₄).
It has permanent magnetism,
and before we had precise instruments, people used magnetite to make the earliest compasses.

Man-made magnets: materials engineered for performance

In modern applications, we mostly rely on man-made magnets.
Engineers tune the material composition, shape, and strength for specific purposes.
Roughly speaking, there are two big categories:

1. Permanent magnets
   Examples include neodymium magnets and Alnico (aluminum–nickel–cobalt) magnets.
   They’re strong and compact, and you’ll find them in:
   • speakers
   • motors
   • magnetic clasps and latches
   • phone accessories
2. Electromagnets
   Wrap a coil of wire around an iron core and run current through it –
   you’ve just made an electromagnet.
   As soon as the current stops, the magnetic field collapses. Electromagnets are everywhere, including:
   • electric motors
   • electromagnetic relays
   • electromagnetic lifting cranes in scrapyards

How does a magnet actually create magnetic force?

Let’s zoom in from electrons to the bigger structure inside a magnet.

Electron motion and magnetism: a bunch of tiny “current loops”

Inside each atom, every electron’s orbit and spin can be modeled as a tiny current loop,
which produces a tiny magnetic moment.

When you add up all those magnetic moments,
you get the overall magnetism of the material.

• If the tiny magnets point in random directions,
  they cancel each other, so the material looks “non-magnetic” overall.
• If a lot of them get aligned,
  they reinforce each other and create a strong net magnetic field –
  that’s when you get a magnet.

Magnetic domains: getting the directions lined up

A magnet isn’t perfectly uniform inside.
It’s divided into many small regions called magnetic domains.

Inside each domain, most of the magnetic moments point roughly in the same direction.

• In an unmagnetized piece of material,
  domains point all over the place and cancel out,
  so you don’t see much magnetism.
• After the material has been magnetized,
  a lot more domains get pulled into roughly the same direction,
  so the magnet shows a strong and stable magnetic field.

That’s the “internal structure” behind the simple behavior of a magnet attracting a paperclip.

Where magnets show up: from small gadgets to high-end tech

Anywhere you see force, motion, position, or data storage,
there’s a good chance magnets are involved.

Let’s walk through a few everyday and high-tech examples
to pull magnets out of the textbook and into real life.

1. Motors and generators: trading electrical energy for mechanical energy

Both motors and generators use electromagnetic induction and magnetic fields
to convert energy back and forth between electrical and mechanical forms.

Some common examples:

• Motors
  • EV motors
  • household fans
  • washing machine motors
  All of them rely on the interaction between magnetic fields and currents
  to generate torque and spin the rotor.
• Generators
  • hydroelectric generators
  • wind turbines
  They use relative motion between coils and magnets:
  changes in magnetic flux induce a voltage in the coils and produce electrical power.

2. Maglev trains: actually floating above the track

Maglev (magnetic levitation) trains use powerful magnets and precisely controlled electromagnets
to lift the train slightly above the track, almost eliminating mechanical contact and friction.

Then, electromagnetic forces are used to push and pull the train forward.

Example:
High-speed maglev systems in places like Japan and Shanghai
can reach higher speeds and offer a quieter ride than many conventional high-speed rail systems.

3. Hard drives and magnetic storage

Traditional computer hard disk drives (HDDs) use magnetic materials to store data.

• The read/write head changes the direction of tiny magnetic grains on the disk surface
  to write 0s and 1s.
• When reading, the magnetic signals are converted back into electrical signals
  that the computer can process.

Even though SSDs are more and more common,
magnetic storage is still important for:

• large backup systems
• data centers
• tape-based archival storage

4. Medical imaging: MRI scanners use super-strong magnets

In hospitals, MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanners rely on extremely strong magnetic fields.

Here’s the basic idea:

1. A powerful magnet lines up the spins of hydrogen atoms in your body.
2. Carefully tuned radio waves knock those spins out of alignment.
3. As they relax back, they emit signals.
4. The scanner collects those signals and reconstructs detailed images of your tissues.

MRI is widely used for:

• brain imaging
• spine and joint exams
• internal organ checks

And it does this without using ionizing radiation.

Simple experiments: see magnetic fields at home

If you like hands-on learning,
you can use a few simple materials to make the invisible magnetic field visible,
and get an intuitive feel for how magnets shape the space around them.

Experiment 1: magnet attracting iron filings or paper clips

Materials

• a magnet
• iron filings or a few small paper clips

Steps

1. Slowly bring the magnet close to the iron filings or paper clips.
   Watch how they jump and stick to the magnet.
2. Flip the magnet around and notice:
   • does the strength feel different?
   • are there spots where the attraction feels stronger?

You’ll notice that certain regions near the poles feel much stronger than others.

Experiment 2: visualizing the field (drawing magnetic field lines)

Materials

• a magnet
• iron filings
• a clear plastic sheet or thin piece of cardboard

Steps

1. Place the plastic sheet on top of the magnet.
2. Gently sprinkle iron filings over the sheet.
3. Lightly tap the plastic so the filings can move freely.
4. Watch the lines formed by the filings – those show the direction of the magnetic field.
5. Move the magnet and see how the pattern changes along with it.

After these two small experiments, you’ll have a much better mental picture of
“What does a magnetic field look like in space?”

A magnet stops being “just something that sticks to metal”
and becomes something that re-organizes the space around it into a structured, directional field.

Magnet FAQ

Summary: once magnets make sense, electromagnetism feels less abstract

Magnets might look like simple objects that “just stick to metal,”
but behind that behavior are a few key ideas:

• electron motion and magnetic moments
• magnetic domains and how they align
• magnetic field structures in space

Once you really understand the answer to “how do magnets work?”,
it becomes much easier to move on to:

• motors
• generators
• transformers
• electromagnetic induction

You won’t feel like every new chapter is just a fresh pile of unfamiliar jargon –
you’ll see how all of it ties back to this same set of magnetic ideas.

Further reading

• “Magnetic Fields and Electric Currents: The Core of Electromagnetism”
  How “current creates magnetic fields” and “changing fields induce currents”
  connect motors, generators, transformers, and wireless charging.
• “Electromagnetic Induction and How Generators Work”
  A practical breakdown of Faraday’s law,
  and how generators use changing magnetic flux to produce electricity.
• “Future Applications of Superconducting Magnets” (coming soon)
  From maglev and MRI to high-efficiency power transmission,
  what superconducting magnets could change in tomorrow’s power systems.
• “How to Choose the Right Magnetic Material” (coming soon)
  A practical guide to common magnetic materials,
  to help you make better choices when designing, selecting parts, or doing projects.
• “What Is a Magnet?” – NASA Space Place
  A kid-friendly visual explainer from NASA that reinforces the basic ideas behind how magnets work in everyday life.
• “Magnetism” – Encyclopaedia Britannica
  A more formal reference on magnetism, magnetic fields, and materials, if you want to go a bit deeper after this article.

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