... are called this because in each atomic magnet there is a North and a South Pole. In the piece of iron these tiny atomic magnets line up with each other in small groups, when they do this they become domains. In a piece of iron, that is unmagnetised, the domains will all point in different directions, see diagram 1 below, the domains are shown by small arrows, the arrowhead indicates the North Pole. As all the domains are pointing in different directions there will be no true north seeking or south-seeking pole in the piece of iron as the domains will cancel each other out, therefore the piece of iron will remain unmagnetised. But, when the piece of iron becomes magnetised, the tiny domains will all turn to point the same direction. This will give the piece of iron a true north-seeking pole and a true south-seeking pole; the piece ...

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