Brio trains have magnets at the ends for your magnet project
Brio trains and magnetism
To see how magnets push and pull each other, get out your wooden Brio trains. One end of each car has a positive magnet and the other end has a negative magnet.
More about magnets
And electromagnets
An electromagnet project
All our physics articles
If you try to match up two positive magnets or two negative magnets, they will push each other apart, but if you match a positive and a negative, they’ll pull together, letting the engine pull the freight cars.
Hammers and nails are made of iron
Magnets only stick to iron
Magnets will only pull on things that have iron in them, because only iron atoms will line up to become temporary magnets, attracted to other magnets. You probably already know that magnets won’t stick to wood or plastic. But will they stick to other kinds of metal?
What is iron?
History of iron and steel
Take a magnet (your Brio train will work) and go around the house seeing which things have iron in them. If you try things made of copper or zinc or aluminum, you’ll see that they are not magnetic even though they are made of metal.
Did this magnet project help you understand magnets? Let us know in the comments!
Copper-bottomed cooking pot
