Cut a Magnet in Half and You Get Two Magnets

Take a bar magnet with a north end and a south end. Saw it through the middle. You do not get a north piece and a south piece. You get two smaller magnets.

Every small region of a magnet behaves like a tiny magnet of its own, and they all line up in one direction. Cutting it just exposes new ends, and those new ends are poles too. Keep cutting all the way down to single atoms, and each one still has two ends.

The search for the lone pole

A particle with only one magnetic pole, a monopole, would be a huge discovery. Theories predict that it could exist, and physicists have searched for decades in cosmic rays and in particle colliders. So far, no confirmed sighting.

Why opposites attract

Bring two magnets together and unlike poles pull while like poles push apart. The field lines run from one pole to the other, and they behave a bit like stretched elastic bands that want to shorten.

It is a simple rule behind motors, speakers and the fridge door. It also explains this hoodie.