Do we actually know how magnets work?

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Rachel Yang |

TED-Ed

• September 2026

In the 1920s, physicists still had many unanswered questions about magnetism. While they knew that every electron and proton have invisible, magnetic fields that radiate out in closed loops from one end to the other, they wondered: what determines the direction of these magnetic fields? And if every atom is composed of these tiny magnets, why isn’t everything magnetic? Rachel Yang investigates. [Directed by Tolga Yıldız, Kozmonot Animation Studio, narrated by Jack Cutmore-Scott, music by Tolga Yıldız]. This video was made possible in collaboration with Nobel Prize Outreach, and with support from the Sloan Foundation.