Magnetism is a property of iron, and materials made mostly from iron. Non-metals are not magnetic.

Magnets attract objects that contain iron and steel (this is called magnetic attraction), meaning that they exert a pulling force on those objects.

Magnets can also repel other magnets (this is called magnetic repulsion) when similar poles are facing each other (they exert a pushing force on each other).

We use this special magnetic property in many everyday objects like alarms, fasteners and even credit cards.

Remote car keys contain tiny magnets...

and so do bank cards...

We can investigate the strength of magnets by testing them. So, let's get stuck into this worksheet and see what we can find out....