Experimenting with magnetism!

Magnetism is derived from a natural mineral called magnetite or lodestone that has the property of attracting iron, cobalt, nickel and certain alloys of these metals. It is a material capable of producing an external magnetic field and attracting iron; the magnets that manifest their properties permanently can be natural, such as magnetite, or artificial, obtained from alloys of different metals.

In a magnet, the attraction capacity is greater at its ends or poles called north and south, because they tend to be oriented according to the geographic poles of the Earth, which is a gigantic natural magnet. The region of space where the action of a magnet is revealed is called the magnetic field and is represented by lines of force, which are closed imaginary lines that go from the north pole to the south pole.

It has long been known that an electric current generates a magnetic field around it. Inside the matter there are small closed currents due to the movement of the electrons that the atoms contain, each one of them originates a microscopic magnet or dipole, when these small magnets are oriented in all directions their effects cancel each other out and the material does not has magnetic properties; on the other hand, if all the magnets are aligned, they act as a single magnet and in that case we say that the substance has been magnetized.

Then I challenge you to carry out the following experiment in order to appreciate how magnetism works