Why do magnets attract each other?

Countless tiny atomic magnets line up the same way, and aligned fields pull opposite poles together.

magnet: domains marched into alignment

ordinary iron: domains point every which way

A magnet is just iron whose microscopic magnetic regions agree on a direction.

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§ 01 · SECTION · 1/4

Every electron is a tiny magnet

Magnetism starts absurdly small. Each electron carries a property called spin, and a moving or spinning charge behaves like a microscopic loop of current, which produces a minute magnetic field of its own.

In most materials these tiny fields point in random directions and cancel. Iron, nickel, and cobalt are special: their atoms naturally nudge neighbors into pointing the same way.

§ 02 · SECTION · 2/4

Domains: neighborhoods that agree

Inside a chunk of iron, atoms cluster into regions called domains, where billions of atomic magnets all point one direction. In unmagnetized iron the domains themselves point randomly, so the bulk effect is roughly zero.

a strong external field, or being stroked by another magnet

domains pointing in scattered directions

domains aligned along one axis

Expose that iron to a strong field and the domains swing into line and largely stay there. Now the tiny fields reinforce instead of cancel, and you are holding a permanent magnet.

§ 03 · SECTION · 3/4

Why two magnets pull together

aligned domains create a field that loops out of the north pole and into the southfield lines stretch through the space around the magnetbecause a magnet always has both poles, the field forms closed loops

a second magnet's north faces the first magnet's souththeir field lines join into smooth continuous loopsbecause opposite poles let the field flow without clashing

the combined field can lower its energy by shortening those loopsthe magnets are pulled toward each otherbecause physical systems drift toward lower-energy arrangements

Flip one magnet so like poles face, and the loops would have to collide head-on. That arrangement stores more energy, so the magnets shove apart instead. Attraction and repulsion are the same rule read in two directions.

§ 04 · DEEPER

Where the field actually lives

The pull you feel between two magnets is the bottom layer (electron spin) amplified billions of times over by alignment. Nothing reaches across the gap to grab; the field itself is the medium, and the force is the field seeking its calmest shape.