Magnets and electromagnets Class: VIII’O

Name ____________ Date __________

Nearly everyone knows something about magnets. You have probably used a magnet to pick up pins,
tacks, and other things made of iron or steel. We do not know when and how magnetism was
discovered, but different stories are told about how a kind of rock was discovered which would attract
pieces of iron towards itself and hold on to them. For many years, people thought that magnetism
was a quality unique to one kind of rock. It was interesting, but it was not really useful. At last,
someone discovered that a piece of iron would act like a magnet if it was rubbed on the rock. This
was followed by an even greater discovery. If a magnet made of iron was set on a piece of wood
floating in water, the magnet would turn until it pointed towards the north and south. This was the first
compass. The rock used to make the iron magnet in the compass was called lodestone. Scientists
have found that lodestone is made of a kind of iron ore called magnetite. The compass is one of the
most important inventions ever made, but for a long time no other uses for magnets were discovered.
Magnets were so weak that they could move only small pieces of iron. Finally, scientists discovered
how to make much stronger magnets by using electric current. They also learned how to use electric
current to make electromagnets, where the magnetic force could be turned on or off. From then on,
many new uses for magnets were found. Telephone receivers, loudspeakers and speedometers, all
have magnets in them. So do electric bells and buzzers. Magnets are found in every electric motor or
generator. Doctors often use magnets to get tiny bits of iron out of a person’s eyes or throat. In these
and many other ways, magnets are used every day.
1 Are all permanent magnets equally strong?
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2 Are all metals magnetic?
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3 Are all non-metals not magnetic?
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4 Which metals stay magnetic when you remove the magnet?

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5 How can you make stronger magnets?
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6 What is the advantages of electromagnets?
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7 What are the uses of magnets in everyday day life?
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Q.2 Draw lines to match each words or phrases in each column to make four sentences.
You can magnetise… …copper… … so they do not line up.

When you magnetise a …domains… …because it is a magnetic

material the material.

You cannot magnetise …nickel… …inside it line up.

Heating a magnetised material …because it is not a magnetic

rearranges the material.