Why can a paper clip on a magnet pick up another clip?

Have you ever held a magnet near a paper clip? Click! The clip jumps up and holds on tight. Then something surprising can happen.

You touch a second clip to the first one. It hangs on too! The second clip never touches the magnet at all. So why can a clip on a magnet pick up another clip?

A paper clip is made of steel, a strong, shiny metal. Magnets pull steel. That is why a magnet grabs a clip, but not a crayon or a sock.

A magnet has a pull we cannot see. That pull reaches out a little way around the magnet. It is why the clip jumped up before it even touched. You cannot see it, but you can watch it tug.

Then the magnet touches the steel clip. Right away, the magnet sends its pull into the clip. The pull spreads through the clip, from one end to the other. The clip looks the same, but it has changed inside.

With that pull inside, the clip turns into a little magnet of its own. It stays a little magnet while it touches the big one. Think about what the big magnet did to the first clip. So what do you think a little magnet can do?

It can pull, just like the big magnet! The first clip pulls on the second steel clip. Up it comes, and it hangs on tight. Now two clips dangle in a row, one under the other.

The big magnet sends its pull into the steel clip. That makes the clip a little magnet, so it pulls the next clip.

Two shiny steel clips hang from the magnet. The top clip holds the bottom one, like a tiny swinging chain.