Skip to content
Auralith Learning

Year 8 · Science · Electricity and magnetism · Lesson 4

Magnets and electromagnets

Magnetic poles and forces, magnetic materials, magnetic fields and field lines, and how electromagnets work and are used.

Whiteboard video lesson: Magnets and electromagnets

24-minute video lesson

Teaching, worked examples and 20 practice questions solved step by step.

Watch free for a month

What your child will learn

  • Predict whether magnets attract or repel
  • Name the magnetic materials
  • Describe and draw magnetic fields
  • Explain how an electromagnet works
  • Describe how to make an electromagnet stronger, and its uses

The method

  1. Like poles repel; unlike poles attract.
  2. Iron, nickel, cobalt and steel are magnetic; most metals are not.
  3. Magnetic field lines go from north to south; closer lines mean a stronger field.
  4. An electromagnet is a current-carrying coil: more turns, more current or an iron core make it stronger.

Key words: magnet, pole, attract, repel, magnetic field, field lines, electromagnet, coil, iron core.

Worked examples

The first three practice questions from the lesson, with every step.

Question 1

Two magnets are placed with a north pole facing a north pole. Will they attract or repel?

  1. Step 1: Look at the facing poles
  2. Step 2: N and N: like poles
  3. Step 3: Like poles repel; unlike poles attract

Answer: Repel

Question 2

Two magnets are placed with a south pole facing a north pole. Will they attract or repel?

  1. Step 1: Look at the facing poles
  2. Step 2: S and N: unlike poles
  3. Step 3: Like poles repel; unlike poles attract

Answer: Attract

Question 3

Which of these are magnetic: copper, iron, aluminium, nickel, steel?

  1. Step 1: Magnetic: iron, nickel, cobalt (and steel)
  2. Step 2: Copper and aluminium are not

Answer: Iron, nickel and steel