I searched and I keep seeing posts about how magnets work and magnetic fields, but that’s not what I’m curious about. I’m curious about how natural magnets are made or found, like how did a natural magnet first get discovered? And how “rare earth” or even regular magnets are made. Also, if anyone feels like adding it on, how do magnets never lose charge?
In: Earth Science
Magnets can be made from lots of materials, and they’re all made the same basic way: expose a magnetic material to a magnetic field while it’s in a state where the molecules can move (usually this means hot). The molecules will line up with the external magnetic field, like tiny compass needles. Then cool the material back down to “lock” the molecules in that orientation. This makes magnets temperature sensitive, lots of materials can become magnetic when they’re really cold. The stuff we think of as “magnets” is just stuff that holds the magnetic orientation at room temperature.
This is why, unless you heat or damage them somehow, most magnets don’t lose “charge”…as long as the molecules don’t re-arrange, they’re stuck in that orientation and will continue to be magnetic.
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