ll of Stratford., Conn., for her question:

What makes the earth act like a magnet?

A toy magnet is made of iron, and solid iron, like everything else, is made of tiny atoms. Each atom is thought to be a miniature magnet, with north and south pole. In ordinary iron, these poles are scattered every which way and pulling in all directions. In a magnet, a large number of the atoms are thought to be lined up in the same direction so that their north anal south poles can pull together.

The core of the earth is thought to be made mostly of iron aid nickel. It is hot and under terrific pressure from above. These facts could effect the atoms and turn the huge, two thousand mile wide ball of metal into a giant magnet. If this is so, the earth acts as a magnet because its heavy central core is a magnet.