Fundamental interaction

Why do things fall and magnets stick?

Image: Pierre-Selim, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Fundamental interaction

Why do things fall and magnets stick?

Imagine you're holding a magnet and letting it go. It sticks to your fridge door. Why does it stick?

Gravity pulls objects towards each other, and magnets stick because of a force called magnetism. These forces are like invisible hands reaching out to make things stick or fall.

Example

A 1 kg magnet sticks to a fridge door with a force of about 0.1 Newtons.

Remember this

Gravity and magnetism are fundamental forces that explain falling objects and magnetic attraction.

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