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What magnets pick up

Electricity and magnetism · level 1, lesson 1 of 6

A question to start

Hold a fridge magnet near a paper clip, a pencil, a spoon and a sock. Which ones jump to the magnet?

The idea

A magnet pulls on things made of iron or steel (steel is mostly iron). It does not pull on wood, plastic, paper, glass, cloth or rubber. It does not pull on most other metals either, like aluminium foil or copper.

  • A paper clip is steel: the magnet picks it up.
  • A pencil is wood: nothing happens.
  • A steel spoon is pulled. A plastic spoon is not.

A magnet can even pull through paper or a thin table top. You cannot see the pull, but you can feel it.

paper clips: pulledpencil and plastic: not pulled

Worked examples

1. A treasure hunt. Go round the kitchen with a magnet. It sticks to the fridge door and a steel pan, but not to a wooden spoon or a glass.

2. Through paper. Put a paper clip on a sheet of paper and move a magnet under the paper. The clip follows the magnet.

3. Not all metal. Try a ball of aluminium foil. It is metal, but the magnet does not pull it.

Try it

  1. Will a magnet pick up a steel nail?
  2. Will a magnet pick up a crayon?
  3. Name two things in your home that a magnet sticks to.
  4. Can a magnet pull a paper clip through a page of a book?
Answers
  1. Yes, steel is mostly iron.
  2. No, crayons are wax.
  3. Any two: the fridge door, a steel pan, scissors, a paper clip, a steel spoon.
  4. Yes, if the magnet is strong enough and the page is thin.

Common mistake

"Magnets pick up all metals." They pull iron and steel. Foil, copper wire and gold rings stay put.

Where it leads