Magnetic fields are invisible force fields. They have direction and strength. They emanate from and return to the same point in space. But how do they emerge in the first place? Electrons not only orbit the atomic nucleus, but they also rotate around their own axis. This is called a "spin". This rotation generates a magnetic field. No magnetic phenomena occur outside the atom.

Electron orbit and spin:

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Demonstrating-the-movement-of-the-electron-around-the-nucleus-58_fig2_368608080 (2026-09-06)

Within the same atom, electrons can rotate in different directions, or they can rotate in the same direction. When the electrons rotate in different directions, their individual magnetic fields cancel each other out and there is magnetic equilibrium. In many cases the same amount of electrons rotate in one direction as in the opposite direction.

Electrons spinning in different directions:

Source: Ellära i teori och praktik, Leif Westlund and Gleerups Utbildning AB, 2012.

When all electrons rotate in the same direction, they enhance each other's magnetic fields, instead of cancelling each other out. The material of which they are a part is then magnetic.

Electrons spinning in one direction (1):

Source: ibid.

Electrons spinning in one direction (2):

Source: ibid.

A few materials, mostly minerals such as magnetite, are naturally magnetic. Materials, or objects, that have a constant magnetic field are called permanent magnets. Magnetic equilibrium - or the lack thereof - cannot change on its own. It can only change if influenced by an external force. For instance, permanent magnets can be artificially created, just as iron can be made temporarily magnetic. The ability to retain magnetism is called "remanence". An example of a non permanent piece of metal that is often made magnetic is the tip of a screwdriver.

Magnetite:

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10139390 (2026-09-06)

Magnetic screwdriver:

Source: https://www.howtogeek.com/854142/is-it-safe-to-use-magnetic-screwdriver-in-a-pc/ (2026-09-26)

Magnets have two poles. In case of a bar magnet, they are called north/N-pole and south/S-pole. The magnetic flow emanates from the N-pole and returns through the S-pole. The magnetic flow is illustrated with field lines, which are imaginary, but a great way to start understanding magnetic fields and their directions. N-poles are often both illustrated and physically colored red, while S-poles are often white.

Bar magnet with illustrated field lines:

Source: https://www.archyde.com/top-10-must-have-smartphones-right-now-galaxy-a56-xiaomi-15t-pro-more/ (2026-09-26)

Two materials of the same polarity can never be united and two materials of opposite polarity will attract each other with equal force.

Source: https://stock.adobe.com/images/shows-a-diagram-of-magnetic-field-in-a-situation-of-repelling-and-attraction/112218437 (2026-09-06)

Magnetic fields can be manipulated or lead to flow in certain directions or in a more concentrated manner. For instance, by placing a bar magnet between the two ends of a U-shaped piece of iron.

(Illustration needed.)

To be continued. Meanwhile:

1. I suppose "no magnetic phenomena occur outside the atom" is an oversimplification and what they really mean to say is that no magnetic fields are produced outside the atom?
2. Do electrons really all rotate in the very same or the opposite three dimensional direction, or is this an oversimplification too and they really:

• either rotate in a great variety of directions
• or in similar directions

1. By "united", are they talking about nuclear fusion? I'm asking because I can physically push two N-poles together and make them touch if the magnet is small enough...
2. It doesn't sound or feel intuitive to say that opposite polarities will attract with equal force. What if one magnet has a mass of 20kg and the other 2 grams?

It doesn’t sound or feel intuitive to say that opposite polarities will attract with equal force. What if one magnet has a mass of 20kg and the other 2 grams?

I'm pretty sure it's still true? Iiuc, it feels unintuitive because the smaller magnet moves a lot more than the larger magnet because it is smaller, but the force is resultant from an interaction of the two fields, not from each magnet independently pulling on the other.

I see. Maybe I'm trying to understand it in a... newtonian way? As in the opposite of: If two bodies exert forces on each other, these forces have the same magnitude but opposite directions. But perhaps magnetic fields don't count as bodies in this definition?

every changing electric field causes changing magnetic field to appear, so no, you can definitely have magnetic phenomena without atoms. i guess they meant to say there are no magnetic monopolies (?) that is there are no separate particles that carry magnetic field it's just electrons going in circles

what i can tell you is that there are no ferromagnetic materials without solids because ferromagnetism requires very specific arrangement of atoms, but saying that there are no magnetic materials without atoms is obvious. i've seen 3 formulated differently, that you can't separate magnet into N and S poles because that just makes two new magnets with two new poles

this matter is a bit complicated. remember, in chemistry normal compounds have paired electrons. we can say that out of these two electrons, one spins in one direction and one in opposite. materials that only or mostly have paired electrons only don't have net magnetic dipole on their atoms/molecules and react to magnetic field very weakly. these are called diamagnetics

there are materials, like some metals or oxygen, that do have unpaired electrons. for reasons that you'll learn in five years if you choose to study physics or chemistry, we can say that within single atom, all of these electrons spin in the same direction. then, if atoms (if it's metal for example, like manganese) are spaced too closely or too widely, these small atomic magnets will be oriented antiparallel and on net there's no magnetic field coming from these. these materials are called paramagnetic. another thing is, if there's no external magnetic field and it's just one atom in vacuum, you can't actually tell which direction it is. but because there are other atoms that have magnetic field at specific distance away, this works

then, related to this special reason why all unpaired electrons on a single atom spin in the same way, there is a special distance between atoms where lowest energy state is where all of these electrons spin in the same way. this is what happens in iron, among other things, and this is what we call ferromagnetism. that is, all atomic magnetic moments in single crystal within piece of iron are aligned in the same way (this is called magnetic domain). in nonmagnetized iron these directions are pointed in random directions and there's no net magnetic field. however, when you magnetize iron, some of these magnetic domains grow at expense of others, because they can't turn around. this is part of the reason why power supplies are very slightly noisy and you can also see it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GLdCEQii5A

forces act on things that these magnetic fields interact with, it's like gravity, 1kg brick is attracted to earth with 10N force and earth is attracted to brick with the same force

Are you saying that newtonian physics do apply to magnetism? Magnets attract each other with the same magnitude, regardless of their mass?

yeah why it wouldn't be