Explain in detail all the five properties of a magnet.

1. Attractive Property of a Magnet: A magnet attracts certain substances such as iron, steel, nickel, and cobalt so when a magnet is brought near these magnetic substances, it exerts a force of attraction on them which is called magnetic force and this behaviour is known as the attractive property of a magnet.

2. Directive Property of a Magnet: When a magnet is freely suspended by a light thread so that it can rotate freely, it always comes to rest in the north–south direction. Even if it is disturbed, it returns to this direction after some time which is known as the directive property of a magnet.

3. Existence of Magnetic Poles in Pairs: Every magnet has two poles—north pole and south pole which always exist together and cannot be separated. Even if a magnet is broken into smaller pieces, each piece will still have both a north pole and a south pole.

4. Law of Magnetic Poles: Like poles of two magnets repel each other, whereas unlike poles attract each other. That is, north pole repels north pole and south pole repels south pole, while north pole attracts south pole.

5. Strength of a Magnet: The magnetic strength of a magnet is maximum at its poles and minimum at its centre.