My five year old son asked this question. I understand the magnetic field and their direction. But i need help in articulating how to explain it to my son without introducing a lot of new concepts and falling into the trap of infinite questions.
In: 3
As we’re actually explaining to a literal 5-year-old, continuing with the LEGO analogy as another commented:
it’s like how LEGOs have bumps on top (North) and holes underneath (South). If you stack three 2×4 plates together, (North to south, then north to south), it’s the same size and shape as a 2×4 brick, which also has bumps (north) and holes underneath (south).
It’s like this so that you can stack magnets a similar way like LEGOs and make a really big magnet out of lots of smaller magnets that all add up. A really big magnet can be strong enough to lift a car like at a junkyard, but it’s built the same like smaller magnets. Of course it’s an electromagnet made with coils of wire, but it’s just a lot more coils of heavier wire than the tiny coils of wire that make up the motor inside of a toy.
Latest Answers