Fun with Magnets (NCERT Ch. 13)

• Identify magnetic and non-magnetic materials.
• Locate the poles of a magnet and understand like/unlike pole interactions.
• Use a magnet to find directions (simple compass idea).
• Understand magnetisation and how magnets can lose their properties if mishandled.

1. A magnet attracts magnetic materials (iron, nickel, cobalt) but not non-magnetic materials (wood, plastic, glass).
2. Every magnet has two poles: north (N) and south (S).
3. Like poles repel; unlike poles attract (N-N repel, N-S attract).
4. A freely suspended magnet always aligns itself roughly north-south — this is the basis of a compass.
5. Magnets can be demagnetised by heating, hammering, or dropping repeatedly.

Two bar magnets are brought close, north pole to north pole. What happens?

Like poles (N-N) repel each other.
The magnets push apart.

• Assuming all metals are magnetic (only iron, nickel, cobalt and their alloys are strongly magnetic).
• Forgetting that a magnet has two poles even after breaking it in half — each piece becomes a new magnet with its own N and S pole.
• Mixing up attraction/repulsion rules.

• Will a plastic ruler be attracted to a magnet?
• What happens when the south pole of one magnet is brought near the north pole of another?

Open the Practice tab for graded questions on Fun with Magnets (NCERT Ch. 13).