Question

Place a magnet on a table. Take a big iron nail towards the magnet. It sticks to the magnet. Now hold the magnet upright in the air, away from the nail. What happens?

Answer 1

When the magnet is held upright in the air, the iron nail remains stuck to the magnet and gets lifted along with it. The nail does not fall down because the magnet attracts the iron nail towards itself. This attracting force exerted by a magnet on magnetic materials like iron is called magnetic force. Magnetic force acts even when there is no direct contact between the magnet and the object.