Why does opposites attract?
The science behind
All magnets have a north and a south pole. To achieve attractive magnets, one must ensure that the magnets' opposite poles face each other, meaning north faces south and vice versa.
The simplest way to explain this is with a compass: the needle always points north, regardless of how you turn the compass, and to find north, you must rotate the dial so the arrow points at N. If the needle rotates with the dial and stays in the same place, your compass is broken, as the needle should point towards the true north pole and not move with the dial.
It's somewhat similar with magnets. They don't exactly point towards the Earth's north pole but always have the north pole at one end and the south at the other, no matter how you turn them. Their direction doesn't change because you turn them. And if you want to join 2 magnets together, they must have the north in the same direction + south in the same direction. And that only happens if you put north against south and vice versa. In other words, you'll want a north direction and a south direction on the combined magnet formed by all the magnets you've connected against each other.
It's a bit convoluted to describe, but we hope it makes sense. It's important for us to make magnetism understandable for everyone, as you can do so much with magnets, and our goal is to make it less technical and more accessible, so more people dare to embark on magnet projects.
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Easy way to ensure correct magnet assembly
A simple method to ensure that magnets are correctly aligned when building with magnets or creating magnetic locks in kitchen cabinets is to mark the magnets with a marker or similar. It doesn’t matter much whether it's the north or south poles that are marked... you just need to make sure you have opposite poles facing each other to achieve attraction.
It’s easy to mark the poles with a marker - just put a cross on the top of each magnet.
Axially magnetized magnets
Magnets that are axially magnetized have their poles located at the ends/faces. If you stack them on top of each other and stand them on a table, the same pole will face upward, even when you remove one magnet. So if you mark your stack of magnets on the top, you simply need to place a mark, remove one magnet, mark the next... and continue until you have marked them all.
If you instead stand them up against each other with the sides touching, you will have magnets with different poles pointing upwards, because the magnetism separates halfway through the magnets. And since they also need to attract each other from the side oppositely, you will have alternating north and south poles pointing upwards.
The easiest method is therefore to stack them on top of each other and mark one at a time by placing a dot on the top magnet, removing it, and then marking the next one on top, and so on.
Diametrically magnetized magnets
Magnets with diametral magnetism have their poles located on the sides. This means they attract each other best from the side, thereby with the same poles facing the ends. Thus, marking diametrically magnetized magnets should be done on the sides, as the sides have the same poles pointing in the same direction.
The only difference from the drawing above is that the division between north and south runs vertically through the magnet.
If you have any other questions, please browse through our FAQ or contact our support team.