Can a magnet pull a paper clip through paper?

Have you ever held a fridge magnet? It snaps onto the fridge door with a little click. Hold it near the door, and you can feel it tug toward the fridge, as if it wanted to jump.

Now picture a paper clip lying on top of a sheet of paper. A magnet waits underneath the paper. The paper sits between them like a thin wall. Can the magnet still pull the paper clip right through the paper?

A magnet has an invisible pull all around it. You cannot see this pull. But it reaches out a short way from the magnet. That is why a magnet can grab things before it even touches them.

A paper clip is a bent piece of steel, which means a strong, shiny metal. A magnet pulls hard on steel. So a paper clip is just the kind of thing a magnet loves to grab.

Paper does not stop the magnet's pull. The pull passes straight through the thin paper, as if the paper were not there.

When you hold the magnet under the paper, its pull finds the steel clip on top and holds it tight. Now, if you slide the magnet slowly along underneath, what do you think the clip will do?

The clip slides along on top of the paper, following the magnet like a little puppy! Nobody touches the clip. Only the pull goes through the paper and moves the steel.

Steel. A magnet's pull goes right through thin paper, so it pulls the steel paper clip.

Thank you for wondering with us today, and have fun watching your own magnets pull.