22
10
Okay, okay, enough about electricity. Sure, it’s awesome and
amazing. But it’s not the only subject of this book. Believe it or
not, magnetism is just as fascinating.
People living in Asia discovered the mysterious natural
force more than two thousand years ago. In Magnesia, Turkey,
people found rocks that could attract and cling to some
metals. Today, we call anything that acts like those rocks a
magnet
.
People in China found the same “magical” rock. They
noticed that when the rock floated in water or hung from a
string, it slowly spun. It doesn’t stop until one end points
north and the other end points south. The Chinese couldn’t
explain the rock’s strange behavior. But they used it to make
the world’s first magnetic compasses.
Mysterious
Magnets
