What Is a Magnetic Field?
4. Lodestone
Most of the magnets we use today have been magnetized deliberately by people. Using increasingly advanced technology, we have been able to produce increasingly powerful magnets that can be used in heavy industry and a range of other fields. The first magnets used by man were not manmade at all but were naturally occurring.
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A lodestone is a piece of the magnetite mineral that has been naturally magnetized. The word lodestone means “leading stone” or “course stone” in middle English and was named as such because they were used in early magnets. Few other materials are natural magnets as lodestone is.
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