ELI5; How exactly do magnets pull other objects? Like, what exactly are North and South poles and what causes them? How do aligned iron atoms affect other objects and pull on electrons in wires?

Question

ELI5; How exactly do magnets pull other objects? Like, what exactly are North and South poles and what causes them? How do aligned iron atoms affect other objects and pull on electrons in wires?

In: 14

Answer 1

There is a quantum electromagnetic field that permeates all of spacetime. When you energize a magnetic field, perhaps by switching on an electromagnet or perhaps by putting a permanent magnet into a place in space, you add magnetic flux into this field. Magnetic flux is sorta† like an electric current, but it flows in the field itself, rather than just through a wire. Electrons moving in the field feel a force from their interaction with the resulting magnetic field. If the electrons are moving through a wire, the wire feels the force. If the electrons are in a permanent magnet, the magnet feels the force. That’s the force that pushes two magnets together/apart.

† This is a rather extreme simplification. Electromagnetism is best described in equations, but that’s the antithesis of ELI5.