How Magnets Push and Pull Objects

Next Generation Science

This short science demonstration video visualizes the fundamental principles of magnetism through a simple "magnet race car" experiment. By using a toy car with magnetic wheels and a handheld bar magnet, the video clearly illustrates how magnetic forces can cause movement without physical contact. The demonstration isolates the variables of magnetic polarity to explain the concepts of attraction and repulsion. The video focuses on two key interactions: repulsion (pushing) and attraction (pulling). It explicitly labels the North and South poles on both the car's magnetic wheels and the handheld magnet. Through clear visual examples, students observe that bringing "like" poles together (South-South) causes the car to move away, while bringing "opposite" poles together (North-South) causes the car to be pulled toward the magnet. This resource is highly valuable for early elementary science classrooms as a hook or demonstration of invisible forces. It simplifies abstract concepts into concrete physical actions—pushing and pulling—that young students can easily understand. Teachers can use this video to introduce vocabulary like "attract," "repel," and "poles," or as a model for a hands-on engineering challenge where students build their own magnetic vehicles.