A bar magnet is broken in half. What does each half have?Answer: Two poles, north and south. Source: Wikipedia, Magnet. Read 2026-10-08.
A paper clip hanging from a magnet can pick up a second paper clip. Why?Answer: The first clip has become a temporary magnet. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnet Exploration; National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Demagnetizing. Read 2026-10-08.
An iron nail has magnetic domains, yet it is not a magnet. Why?Answer: Its domains point in different directions and cancel. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnets from Mini to Mighty. Read 2026-10-08.
Iron filings are sprinkled on a sheet of paper that lies over a bar magnet. What do they show?Answer: The pattern of the magnetic field. Source: Wikipedia, Iron filings; National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Drawing Magnetic Field Lines. Read 2026-10-08.
Outside a magnet, which way do the magnetic field lines point?Answer: From the north pole to the south pole. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnets from Mini to Mighty; National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Drawing Magnetic Field Lines. Read 2026-10-08.
Show all 30 questions (25 more)
Poles, fields and magnetic materials, continued
What are materials called that are strongly attracted to magnets and can be made into permanent magnets?Answer: Ferromagnetic. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnets from Mini to Mighty; Wikipedia, Ferromagnetism. Read 2026-10-08.
What happens to a magnet's pull as you move farther from it?Answer: It gets weaker. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Drawing Magnetic Field Lines. Read 2026-10-08.
What happens when the north poles of two magnets are brought close together?Answer: They push each other away. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnets from Mini to Mighty. Read 2026-10-08.
What is a lodestone?Answer: A naturally magnetized piece of the mineral magnetite. Source: Wikipedia, Lodestone. Read 2026-10-08.
Where is the force of a bar magnet strongest?Answer: Near its two poles. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Drawing Magnetic Field Lines. Read 2026-10-08.
Which of these can make a permanent magnet lose its magnetism?Answer: Heating it strongly or hammering it. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnets from Mini to Mighty; National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnet Exploration; National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Demagnetizing. Read 2026-10-08.
Which of these is strongly attracted to a magnet?Answer: Iron. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnet Exploration; Wikipedia, Ferromagnetism; Wikipedia, Diamagnetism. Read 2026-10-08.
Which of these will a magnet not pick up?Answer: A copper wire. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Electromagnets; National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnet Exploration; Wikipedia, Diamagnetism. Read 2026-10-08.
Which pair of magnet poles pull toward each other?Answer: North and south. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnets from Mini to Mighty; National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnet Exploration. Read 2026-10-08.
Electromagnets and the Earth's field 16
A magnet is moved into and out of a wire coil. What does the changing magnetic field produce in the coil?Answer: A voltage that can drive an electric current. Source: Wikipedia, Electromagnetic induction. Read 2026-10-08.
A scrapyard crane lifts steel with an electromagnet. Why not with a permanent magnet?Answer: An electromagnet can be switched off to drop the load. Source: Wikipedia, Electromagnet; National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Electromagnets. Read 2026-10-08.
The north end of a compass needle points to the Arctic. What kind of magnetic pole must be there?Answer: A magnetic south pole. Source: Wikipedia, Earth's magnetic field; National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Compasses. Read 2026-10-08.
What does a compass needle line up with?Answer: The Earth's magnetic field. Source: Wikipedia, Compass; National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Compasses. Read 2026-10-08.
What does the Earth's magnetic field protect the planet from?Answer: Charged solar wind particles. Source: Wikipedia, Earth's magnetic field; Wikipedia, Aurora. Read 2026-10-08.
What happens to an electromagnet's field when the current is switched off?Answer: It disappears. Source: Wikipedia, Electromagnet; National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Electromagnets. Read 2026-10-08.
What happens to the Earth's magnetic poles over very long times?Answer: Now and then north and south swap places. Source: Wikipedia, Earth's magnetic field. Read 2026-10-08.
What is a solenoid?Answer: A coil of wire that makes a magnetic field when current flows. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnets from Mini to Mighty; Wikipedia, Solenoid. Read 2026-10-08.
What is an electromagnet?Answer: A magnet whose field is made by an electric current. Source: Wikipedia, Electromagnet; National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Electromagnets. Read 2026-10-08.
What is magnetic declination?Answer: The angle from true north to magnetic north. Source: Wikipedia, Magnetic declination. Read 2026-10-08.
What makes the coil of an electric motor turn?Answer: Magnetic forces on the current-carrying coil. Source: Wikipedia, Electric motor. Read 2026-10-08.
Where is the Earth's magnetic field made?Answer: In the moving molten iron of the outer core. Source: Wikipedia, Earth's magnetic field; National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnets from Mini to Mighty. Read 2026-10-08.
Which change makes an electromagnet stronger?Answer: Adding more turns of wire to the coil. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnets from Mini to Mighty. Read 2026-10-08.
Which scientist noticed that an electric current in a wire turns a nearby compass needle?Answer: Hans Christian Ørsted. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnets from Mini to Mighty; Wikipedia, Hans Christian Ørsted. Read 2026-10-08.
Which unit measures the strength of a magnetic field?Answer: Tesla. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnets from Mini to Mighty. Read 2026-10-08.
Why is the wire of an electromagnet often wound on an iron core?Answer: The iron is magnetized by the coil and adds to the field. Source: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Magnets from Mini to Mighty; Wikipedia, Electromagnet. Read 2026-10-08.
How this list was compiled: Questions, wrong choices and explanations were written for this site. Each fact was checked on the page named in the question's source line: the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory's Magnet Academy (Magnets from Mini to Mighty, Magnet Exploration, Electromagnets, Compasses, Demagnetizing, Drawing Magnetic Field Lines), https://nationalmaglab.org/magnet-academy/, and Wikipedia (Magnet, Ferromagnetism, Diamagnetism, Iron filings, Lodestone, Electromagnet, Hans Christian Ørsted, Solenoid, Compass, Earth's magnetic field, Magnetic declination, Aurora, Electromagnetic induction, Electric motor). All read 2026-10-08. Licence: own work
How it works
This magnetism quiz has 30 questions in two sets: poles, fields and magnetic materials, then electromagnets and the Earth's magnetic field. Every answer was checked against the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory's teaching pages or Wikipedia.
Read the full guide
Two sets
Poles, fields and magnetic materials asks what attracts and repels, where field lines run, which metals a magnet picks up and how a magnet loses its pull. Electromagnets and the Earth's field covers coils, iron cores, compasses, declination and the solar wind.
Which set to pick
For a first quiz, magnet poles and magnetic metals are in set one, which needs no electricity. Set two fits once a class has built an electromagnet or used a compass.
Opposites attract, likes repel: north pulls south and pushes north.
Questions and answers
What are the two poles of a magnet?
North and south. Field lines leave the north pole and curve around to the south pole, and the pull is strongest near the two poles. Break a magnet in half and each piece still has both.
What metals are magnetic?
Iron, nickel and cobalt are the three common ones, and so is steel, because it is mostly iron. Copper and gold are not picked up by a magnet.
What is the difference between a magnet and an electromagnet?
A permanent magnet keeps its field all the time. An electromagnet is a coil of wire, often wound on an iron core, whose field is made by an electric current and disappears when the current is switched off.
Why does a compass point north?
Its needle is a small magnet that lines up with the Earth's magnetic field. It points to magnetic north, which is not quite true north. The angle between the two is called magnetic declination.