Question

Table 13.3 finding the objects attracted by magnet

Answer 1

It is said that, there was a shepherd named Magnes, who lived in ancient Greece. He used to take his herd of sheep and goats to the nearby mountains for grazing. He would take a stick with him to control his herd. The stick had a small piece of iron attached at one end. One day he was surprised to find that he had to pull hard to free his stick from a rock on themountainside (Fig. 13.3). It seemed as if the stick was being attracted by the rock. The rock was a natural magnet and it attracted the iron tip of the shepherd's stick. It is said that this is how natural magnets was discovered. Such rocks were given the name magnetite, perhaps after the name of that shepherd. Magnetite contains iron. Some people believe that magnetite was first discovered at a place called Magnesia. The substances having the property of attracting iron are now known as magnets. This is how the story goes.

In any case, people now have discovered that certain rocks have the property of attracting pieces of iron. They also found that small pieces of these rocks have some special properties. They named these naturally occurring materials magnets. Later on the process of making magnets from pieces of iron was discovered. These are known as artificial magnets.