Teresa Armenth, age 10, of Crown Point, Ind., for her question:

HOW DO THEY MAKE MAGNETS?

The planet earth was making magnets long before the human family arrived. More magnets were created out in space and came plummeting down to the ground. For a long time, these natural magnets were the only ones known to man. Then people found a way to make simple magnets for themselves. And wouldn't you know, later they found ways to make fancy super magnets.

Natural magnets are special bits of iron ore, often left strewn on the ground. These were the very first magnets that people discovered. Some of them were meteorites that had plunged down from the sky. Some were created on earth, perhaps where volcanoes erupted to build new mountains.

In any case, natural magnets of this sort were always very rare and it was a long time before people learned how to make their own. They made the first ones simply by borrowing the magic magnetic force already inside a bit of iron ore. In fact, you can use this simple trick to create a new magnet or to liven up an old one.

You need two things. One is a small metal magnet in good working condition. The other may be a weary, worn out little magnet, when its pulling power is too weak to work. The ends of a working magnet are its north and South Pole. Its magic power reaches out, looping from pole to pole. The trick is to stroke the old magnet against the working model from end to end  in the right direction.

With patience this renews the charge in the old magnet  and the other magnet loses none of its strength. Some people can make magnets by placing bits of certain metals in the magic force field around a working magnet. All they do is tap the metal with a hammer and most likely it becomes magnetized.

Experts can make bigger and better magnets by placing bars of special metal near powerful magnets and either rubbing or tapping them. Other magnets are made with coils of electric wires. The wires are wrapped around bars of special hard metals. When the electric current is turned on, the metal becomes a powerful electromagnet.

A small toy magnet may lose its power when overheated or bashed around.   

  It can be recharged by rubbing it against a healthy new magnet. A big electromagnet is wreathed in wire coils. It is charged when the current is turned on  and it loses its power when the current is turned off.