Magnets Are Fun

Magnets, you know those things that have a North and South pole and stick to metal objects? Theres all kinds of magnets from the lowliest refrigerator magnet to the super electromagnets that can lift tons. You probably had some of those plastic coated magents as toys when you were a kid or knew someone who had some, so you know when you point two ends of a couple of magnets at each other, they stick together, but turn them around and they push each other away. I can spend hours playing with magnets. Put one under a table or desk and another on top and watch as one slides around seemimgly by itself. It looks better if you put something small like a thimble or an eraser on the one on top and watch it move around while your hand moves the one under the table. Tape a magnet to a small car and push it around with another magnet. Get a stack of circular magnets like you find in toy stores and place them over a pencil so they float on each other.
Magnets excert a force that amazes a lot of people and besides being interesting as all get out as to how they work and what you can do with them, its a great way to while away a boring afternoon.

Where You Can Find Magnets

Magnets can be found in a lot of places. Most people get theirs from toy stores and Radio Shack. These magnets are not very strong. If you want a good strong magnet, find an old hard drive and take it apart. The magnets will be under that swing arm thingie and there should be one or two glued to a steel plate. Take a screwdriver and prise them off but be carefull as these magnets are ceramic magnets and can break easy. Other places to find good strong magnets are old broken microwave ovens,computer monitors, and woofer style speakers. Some of the speaker magnets can be quiet large and I recently got myself a pair of 4 inch ring magnets off of the back of a couple of 9x6 car speakers. Care should be taken when playing around with these larger magnets as they can really hurt you if allowed to snap together too fast. You can also find a large selection of magnets online. Places like Scitoys.com and Supermagnetman.net as well as ebay offer just about any size magnet you'd care to have.

Electromagnets

Electromagnets are another kind of magnet. Unlike the rare earth or
ceramic magnets, electromagnets require the input of electricity in
order for them to work. The great thing about electromagnets is you can
turn the magnetic field on and off with the flip of a switch. You've
probably seen pictures of electromagnets at work in salvage yards onTV shows and magazines, where a big crane hosts this large flat disk and picks up scrap metal
and releases it into a bin or rail car. They come in all different
sizes from the huge industrial behemoths to the small hobby sizes that
you can do experiments with. I recently found a set of 4 hobby electromagnets on eBay for 30 bucks, each one will pick up 14 lbs for every volt of electricity put into it.