Stacking magnets on top of eachother

Does stacking multiple magnets on top of each other enhance the magnetic effect?

We often receive questions about magnetism and the strength when stacking multiple magnets on top of each other; whether the magnets enhance each other's strength, and if so, by how much.

We'll try to answer this here in a non-technical way, so everyone can understand.

When you stack magnets on top of each other, they all have a layer of nickel plating, which creates a distance between the actual neodymium core, but they still amplify each other's magnetic field through direct contact, thus doubling in strength up to a certain height (see more about this below).

Therefore, whether you have 1 magnet of 10x5 mm or 5 magnets of 10x1 mm, you will experience almost the same effect (often a slight increase in strength with the stacked magnets compared to the single magnet, but it is a relatively small difference - in this case, the strength is about 100 grams higher than the single magnet).

Does this mean double the effect when stacking two identical magnets?

The short answer is: yes! But as we mentioned above, this is only up to a certain point. it also requires that you stack completely identical magnets with flat surfaces - that is, neither rounded, spherical, nor conical magnets.

Let's consider a specific magnet: a block magnet of 10x10x1 mm. It has a strength of 0.6 kg. This results in the following calculation:

• 1 x 10x10x1 mm = 0.60 kg.
• 2 x 10x10x1 mm = 1.20 kg.
• 3 x 10x10x1 mm = 1.80 kg.

And so it continues with a doubling, up until you have stacked a height equivalent to half the diameter of the magnet (i.e., half of 10 mm = 5 mm). After that, the effect decreases and quickly reaches a point where the increase can hardly be measured.

For example, the increase is just barely 60% with 10 stacked on top of each other and only slightly over 15% with 50 stacked. And at 1000 pieces, we are close to the max for being able to measure the value (an increase of less than 0.8%).

Thereafter, the table looks as follows:

• 5 x 10x10x1 mm = 3.00 kg.
• 10 x 10x10x1 mm = 3.48 kg.
• 50 x 10x10x1 mm = 4.56 kg.
• 1000 x 10x10x1 mm = 4.68 kg.