Magnets fascinate us. They feel almost mystical from the compass needle that always points north to the powerful magnets steering particle beams in accelerators. But beneath the surface, magnets are nothing more than a visible, tangible manifestation of one of nature’s fundamental interactions: the electromagnetic field. The Foundation: Electromagnetism In physics, electricity and magnetism aren’t separate forces — they’re two faces of the same coin. Maxwell’s equations, formulated in the 19th century, unified them into a single framework: the electromagnetic (EM) field. An electric field arises from charges. A magnetic field arises from moving charges (currents) or the intrinsic angular momentum of electrons (their spin). Together, they form one interconnected entity: the EM field. What Happens Inside a Magnet? In most materials, the magnetic effects of individual electrons cancel each other out. Each electron is like a tiny loop of current due to its spin and orbital moti...