Magnets are ancient. They’re so old the actual discovery of magnetism is somewhat of a legend. It is said that about 4,000 years ago, a shepherd named Magnes was out herding his sheep when his metal staff and the nails in his shoes stuck to a black rock. That black rock was magnetite and it contained lodestone. Since then, our use of magnets has evolved in hundreds of different ways. In this blog, we are going over some of the most common ways magnets have been used throughout time.

Compasses and Navigation

In ancient times, magnets had a supernatural mystery to them because people didn’t really know the science behind how they work. However, the early Chinese are believed to have first used them in magnetic compasses for navigation purposes. They realized magnets could direct needles and correlated with the north pole, and used that information to navigate. The early compasses were created with lodestone because modern magnets were not invented yet. Lodestone comes from the mineral magnetite and is the only naturally-occurring magnet. Modern day magnets, like neodymium magnets and rare earth magnets, are made from a complex process in which a number of metals are forged together. This process helps to make them stronger and more suitable for how they are used today. Therefore, lodestone in comparison to strong rare earth magnets is weaker.

Magnets and Electricity

We may have been using magnets for centuries, but it wasn’t until closer to the twentieth century that they were more fully understood by scientists. Before, they were more of a magical or mysterious substance and no one really knew how or why they worked, attracting magnetic materials. However, once magnetic fields were more fully understood, scientists began discovering the relationship between magnets and other phenomena, mainly electricity. While performing an experiment, Hans Christian Oersted, a physicist and chemist, discovered that a magnetic compass needle moved in the presence of an electric current. He deduced that the electricity and magnetism were intertwined. His discovery was essential for later scientists and inventors like Nikola Tesla and Thomas Jefferson to use the relationship to create electronic devices. Now, most of the devices that we use today (TVs, blenders, phones, etc.) use electromagnetism.

Robots and Medicine

Now, the uses of magnets are numerous and varied. Advances in the way that rare earth magnets are created have made them more versatile and easier to use in a number of different applications. In robotics, magnets are crucial. Not only do magnets assist with the electronics part, but they help make robots more mobile and compact. Recently, foldable drones, magnetic nanotechnology like Google X and other innovative uses of magnets have popped up. Magnets may be one of the oldest materials on Earth, but there is still a lot that we don’t know about them. Innovators will likely continue to use them in new, creative ways that have the potential to improve how we live. What do you think will be the next, new way to use magnets?