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What are Magnetism and Electricity?

There are two key ideas to keep in mind while experimenting with magnetism and electricity:

A magnetic field moving through a conductor creates electricity.

Electricity moving through a conductor creates a magnetic field.

Magnetism and electricity are almost like the flip sides of a coin. Magnetism can make electricity, and electricity can make magnetism. This is the building block upon which all of our technology is based. Almost every bit of electrical power used around the world, be it from a nuclear power plant or a windmill is produced using this basic principal. Some electricity does get generated using other methods, such as the chemical reaction in batteries, or solar panels, but it is a tiny fraction.

This means that if I take a common household magnet and move it close to a piece of wire it makes electricity! Even just putting a magnet on the fridge at home makes electricity. Conversely, anytime you use electricity, from a flashlight to a computer, a magnetic field is generated as long as the electricity flows.

One interesting thing to note is that a magnetic field will create electricity in conductors that are nonmagnetic, like copper, aluminum or gold, and electricity flowing through a nonmagnetic conductor will still make a magnetic field.

What is a magnetic field? Well, nobody knows! That's one of the cool things about magnets, they are so commonplace, yet they remain a greater enigma than the Pyramids. What we do know is that a magnet has a force field around it. This field can interact with other magnetic fields and a few substances, notably iron and some rare earths. Other than these substances, a magnetic field will pass right through anything with no effect. Magnetic fields have two distinct areas or "poles." For convenience, these poles are call "north" and "south." Opposite poles attract, and like poles repel. This means that two south poles or two north poles will push away from each other, and a north and a south will be pulled together.

What is a magnet? All matter is made of atoms. Every atom has a magnetic field. In most materials, atoms are scattered in random directions. This causes their magnetic fields to cancel each other out. In some materials, the atoms can be made to all line up in rows. When this happens, all of the atom's magnetic fields combine together to produce one larger, stronger magnetic field.

What is electricity? Atoms are made of Protons, Electrons and Neutrons, allegedly orbiting the Nucleus, much like the planets of our solar system orbiting the sun. A proton has a positive charge, an electron has a negative charge, and a neutron has a balanced charge. The classic definition of electricity is "the flow of electrons." While this is generally true, we do see instances of "positive" flow of electricity. Leaving that aside, a flow of electrons will serve as a definition here.

What is a conductor? Conductors are materials whose electrons can be easily induced to move. This allows the flow of electrons mentioned above. While the most common and most efficient conductors are metals, many materials, such as carbon, have at least some degree of conductivity. When a magnetic field passes through a conductor, the electrons are pushed or moved by the field. How? No one knows, but the effects can easily be seen.