What Are Some Uses of Permanent Magnets?

There are surprisingly many uses of magnets. Both permanent magnets, as well as electromagnets, are components in many industrialized products that have a huge influence on our daily lives.

What are some uses of permanent magnets? Permanent magnets are used in hard drives, motors, cars, generators, televisions, phones, headphones, speakers, transducers, sensors etc. The most common use of a magnet is the pulling force to attract other magnetic items but it has various functions in electronic tools as well.

That was a very short description of, what you can use a permanent magnet for. Keep on reading, if you want to know more about the uses of permanent magnets and why it is different compared to an electromagnet. Later on, we will suggest some creative things you can use permanent magnets for in your daily life.

What are some uses of permanent magnets?

Most people have come across magnets in their kitchen. Many use permanent magnets on their fridge or maybe on their magnetic knife strip holder. A permanent magnet has many more uses. Some of them are listed above as components in electronic devices.

Does a permanent magnet always have the same purpose? To “pin” an object on a magnetic board. The answer is No! A lot of electronic devices cannot work without magnets.

Without getting too technical, permanent magnets are used in computers hard disk drive. The science behind it uses magnets to help store the information on the disk. Well, I can’t tell you exactly how that works, but it is one of the many cool and sometimes complex solutions to the use of permanent magnets.

One of the other ones is that it is used in electric motors to turn the electricity in motion. So if you have an electric toothbrush or a lawnmower, they are also likely to have permanent magnets inside of them as components.

What is a permanent magnet?

You probably know what a magnet is, but what does it mean, that it is permanent? A permanent magnet is made of ferromagnetic materials that have been magnetized. The reason why its permanent is that it has a persistent magnetic force, that attracts other magnetic objects.

So, a magnet that retains its magnetic properties in the absence of an inducing field or current.

Permanent means lasting or intended to last or remain unchanged indefinitely. Well, for permanent magnets you measure on their ability of the coercivity. This is a measurement of how well a magnet withstands an external magnetic field without becoming demagnetized.

The permanent magnets produced today are very resistant to becoming demagnetized, but it is very different compared to which permanent magnet we are talking about.

The strongest magnet on the market is neodymium magnets. We have written a lot about them in other blog posts, also referred to as Super Magnets or Power Magnets. These magnets are an alloy of neodymium, iron, and boron.

If they are not demagnetized by extreme heat or other very strong magnets, the force will be almost unchanged for many years, and you will not feel any mentionable difference on your neodymium magnets. Take care though, they are likely to corrode because of the material.

But how are these permanent magnets created, and what is the difference between them and electromagnets?

Permanent Magnets vs. Electromagnets

The only magnet you are able to find naturally is called a lodestone. This is a naturally magnetized piece of the mineral magnetite. But all the permanent magnets you buy has been refined and is usually an alloy, a combination of different metallic elements.

These elements are mixed together, usually in liquid form, and are manufactured in all kinds of shapes - the objects are afterward magnetized. The strength depends mostly on materials used, but also the size and shape.

An electromagnet has its magnetic field produced by an electric current. A simple electromagnet is made from a coil of wire which often is wrapped around a core of ferromagnetic materials like iron.

This means that the magnet only has its properties when an electric current is applied, and you can turn off the magnetic force. This means it is easier to manipulate the use of an electromagnet by controlling the amount of electric current supplied to it.

The application and utilization of magnets depend on which properties it consists of, so you need to find a magnet that matches your needs.

At MagnetPartner we sell all kinds of different magnets, with different purposes. Well, it goes without saying, that the fridge magnets are mostly used for “pin” stuff on the fridge. But we sell all kinds of strong magnets, and we often end a post with a DIY-project for the inspiration of, what else you can use permanent magnets for.

Take a look at our front page, where our six most popular products are shown, and see our categories to the left, which suits the needs of private people as well as institutions and companies. Our customer service can test the magnets for your needs before you buy anything.

DIY Magnetic Collector

There are many good reasons to make your own ‘Do-it-yourself’ projects. Some of them are the honor of has done something smart by saving money and the creativity to decide the design yourself.

With today's suggestion, you can definitely save money by creating a magnetic collector yourself. All you need is a Power Magnet, Ring 15x6x6 MM a string and a plastic bottle.

Tie the string to the magnet, and put the magnet inside the bottle, while holding on to the string. See how it is done in the video Magnetic-collector. The language is in Danish, but it has English subtitles.

Now you can hold onto the string while you drag the bottle onto the ground as it collects magnetic materials for example screws and other objects, maybe in your garage or hobby room.

When you have collected the objects on the ground, you can pull up the sting from the bottle, and it will put the objects on the place you need them, maybe in a box - and that is how you make your own magnetic collector.

There are probably different solutions which are just as smart, but this one is very cheap, easy and you can reuse the magnet again for a different DIY-project if you don’t need to the collector again laying around.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us. We love giving advice and guidance for both magnets and DIY-projects, so if you have any questions, just follow this link to get our contact information.

As you can see from this project, the use of permanent magnets are almost unlimited. We will try to give more suggestions for uses and projects, where you can use magnets in your daily life both in private or at work.

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post and will follow our magnet-adventure in the future.