Fifth Grade
Worksheets
Magnets Attract and Repel
You've probably played with magnets. You know some things about them already. You know that magnets can push and pull on some objects. Do you know why?
Magnets attract some-but not all-metals. A magnet won't attract a penny or a soft drink can. Magnets do not attract paper, cloth, or plastic. Magnets are made of metals like iron, nickel, steel, or cobalt. These are the metals that magnets attract, too. Some rocks with these metals inside them are natural magnets called lodestones.
Magnetism is a force. We can't see it. It acts on some objects so we know it is there. Magnetism comes from the electric charges found in atoms. Everything is made of tiny particles called atoms. Atoms are made of even smaller parts. One of these is the electron. Moving electrons are the cause of magnetism.
Each atom has electrons moving around its center. In a magnet, the electrons pull in the same direction. In things that aren't magnets, the domains of all the atoms are mixed up. They pull in all different directions.
