Exploring Magnets | Science Grade 6 CBSE

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Six ideas about magnets

A magnet is simple, but full of surprises. Tap each term to see what it means and how you can test it for yourself.

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The three big ideas

A magnet attracts iron, nickel and cobalt. The first magnet known to people was a natural rock called magnetite (lodestone); today we make magnets in shapes like bar, horseshoe, ring and cylinder.
Every magnet has two poles – north (N) and south (S). The pull is strongest at the poles and weak in the middle (sprinkle iron filings to see them cluster at the ends).
A freely suspended magnet always rests pointing roughly north–south. The end pointing north is the north pole.
Poles come in pairs. Break a magnet and each piece is still a full magnet with both an N and an S pole.

Magnetic materials (iron, nickel, cobalt) are attracted by a magnet. Non-magnetic materials (plastic, wood, paper, rubber, copper, aluminium) are not.
The rule between two magnets: like poles repel (N–N and S–S push apart) and unlike poles attract (N–S pull together).
Repulsion is the sure test of a magnet. A plain iron piece can only be attracted; only another magnet can be pushed away.

Worked example. You have two identical-looking rods. How do you find which is the magnet?

Bring an end of rod A near each end of rod B. If you ever feel a push (repulsion), both rods are magnets. If you only feel a pull (attraction) at every end, the attracted rod is just iron – because iron can only be attracted, never repelled.

Common mistake: thinking all metals are magnetic. Copper coins, aluminium foil, gold and silver are not attracted – only iron, nickel and cobalt are.

A compass is a tiny magnetic needle free to turn. The Earth itself behaves like a giant magnet, so the needle settles north–south – used by sailors, hikers and pilots to find direction.
Caring for magnets: keep them away from heat, do not drop or hammer them, store bar magnets in pairs with unlike poles together (with soft-iron keepers), and keep them away from phones and cards.
Everyday uses: compasses, fridge-door catches, loudspeakers, earphones, electric bells, motors, cranes that lift scrap iron, and separating iron from waste.

Where you’ll meet it

Magnets at work

Finding the way

Long before satellites, sailors crossed oceans guided by a compass needle. Even today, trekkers and surveyors trust the same north-pointing magnet when no other landmark is in sight.

Sorting scrap

At a recycling yard, a large electromagnet on a crane lifts iron and steel out of a mixed heap, leaving plastic and aluminium behind – a fast, clean way to separate metals for reuse.

Sound in your ears

Every loudspeaker and earphone hides a small magnet. It works with an electric current to push a thin sheet back and forth, making the air vibrate – and that is the music you hear.

Check yourself

Competency quiz

Modelled on the competency-based pattern — MCQ, assertion–reason and case studies, testing whether you can use the ideas, not just recall them.

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