How do magnets work?

Question

anonymous · Answer

the pos side attracts the negative side and the both like metal

anonymous · Answer

Not really a topic for biology, but anyway.  I also presume you mean where does the magnetic force come from.  The origin comes from small electrical currents within the atoms of the material themselves.  As the the electrons "orbit" the nucleus, it forms a little current loop, and if current flows in a loop, it will create a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane of rotation.  For non-magnetic materials, these fields are orientated randomly, meaning that they point in all directions, resulting in no net magnetic field over the entire material.  In magnetic materials, these fields are more ordered, and tend to point in the same direction (or can be made to do so), creating a net magnetic field in the material, with one end of the material being North, and the opposite end South.

When you bring two magnets together, you find that that opposite poles attract, and like poles repel.