How Do Magnets Work?

Click! Stick a magnet on the fridge, clack! Drop a paperclip, it snaps right back! Roll a marble past, it just rolls free, But the iron nail jumps up to me!

How do magnets work? How do they pull? Why does iron come and the plastic stay still? How do magnets work? Tell me, please, What's the secret in a thing like these?

Tiny, tiny, tiny magnets in the middle! Tiny, tiny atoms, lined up, it's no riddle! Tiny, tiny, tiny magnets all in line, That's what makes a plain iron bar into a magnet, fine!

Every atom is a teeny magnet inside, Every speck of iron, it can't hide! But in most stuff they point every which way, North, south, east, west, a messy ballet!

In a magnet, though, they line up tight, All the little arrows pointing one way, right? All the little norths point this way, All the little souths point that way!

And all around the magnet, invisible stuff! A field that reaches out, sneaky tough! You can't see it, can't touch it, understand, But iron in the field jumps to your hand!

How do we know? Hans Ørsted, eighteen-twenty, Set a compass next to a wire, saw it swing! Turning on the current spun the needle round, Electric current makes its own magnetic sway!

Click! Next time a paperclip jumps and clings, Picture the secret atom-arrow things, All pointing the same way, lined up neat, Pulling the iron right off its feet!