Q 01/05

The word magnet comes from a Greek term meaning a stone from which ancient place?

A) Magnesia

B) Magna Graecia

C) Macedonia

D) Miletus

Answer · why

A) Magnesia

Magnesia also gave English the words magnesium and manganese; whether the 'Magnesian stone' came from the district in Thessaly or a namesake city in A...

Q 02/05

Lodestone, the first compass material, is a naturally occurring form of which mineral?

A) Hematite

B) Magnesite

C) Pyrite

D) Magnetite

Answer · why

D) Magnetite

Magnetite that has become magnetised is called lodestone, an old word meaning 'way stone', because it was used to make the compass needles that guided...

Q 03/05

Which three elements are the classic ferromagnetic metals strongly attracted to a magnet?

A) Iron, nickel and cobalt

B) Copper, zinc and tin

C) Gold, silver and platinum

D) Aluminium, lead and chromium

Answer · why

A) Iron, nickel and cobalt

Iron, nickel and cobalt have a part-time fourth member: gadolinium is ferromagnetic too, but only below about 20 °C, so it drops out on a warm day.

Q 04/05

What do you get if you snap a bar magnet in half?

A) You get one pole on each

B) Both pieces lose their magnetism

C) You get two complete magnets

D) The pieces repel each other permanently

Answer · why

C) You get two complete magnets

You get two complete magnets, each with its own north and south pole, however many times you cut; nobody has ever isolated a lone magnetic pole, thoug...

Q 05/05

What happens to an iron magnet heated past its Curie point, about 770 °C?

A) Its poles swap ends

B) It starts to melt

C) It stops being magnetic

D) It becomes far stronger

Answer · why

C) It stops being magnetic

It stops being magnetic because heat jostles the tiny aligned regions inside it out of step; for iron that happens far below its melting point of abou...