✗ If you break a magnet in half, one piece will be a North pole and the other will be a South pole.

✓ Magnets always have two poles, a North pole and a South pole. If you break a magnet into pieces, each piece will still have both a North and a South pole.

Students often assume that if you break something in half, you get two distinct halves. They might think breaking a magnet separates its North and South poles.

✗ Attraction is a sure test for magnetism.

✓ While attraction occurs between a magnet and a magnetic material, it also occurs between two magnets. However, repulsion only occurs between two magnets (when like poles are brought together). Therefore, repulsion is the only definitive test to confirm if an object is a magnet.

Students might confuse attraction with magnetism because they see magnets attracting iron objects. They don't always realize that a magnet can also attract a non-magnetised piece of iron, making attraction an unreliable test for magnetism itself.

✗ The Earth's magnetic North pole is located at its geographic North pole.

✓ The North pole of a freely suspended magnet points towards the Earth's geographic North. However, the Earth's magnetic North pole is actually near its geographic South pole, and vice-versa. This is why the North-seeking pole of a compass points North (it's attracted to the Earth's magnetic South pole, which is located in the geographic North).

The terminology 'North pole' of a magnet pointing 'North' can be confusing, leading students to assume the Earth's magnetic North is at the geographic North.

✗ Magnets attract all types of metals and sometimes even non-metals like paper.

✓ Magnets attract only magnetic materials like iron, nickel, and cobalt. They do not attract non-magnetic materials such as wood, plastic, paper, or copper.

Sometimes, students might see a magnet 'picking up' a small piece of paper that has a tiny magnetic staple or paperclip attached, leading them to believe magnets attract paper.

✗ The magnetic force is strongest in the middle of a bar magnet.

✓ The magnetic force is strongest at the poles of a magnet, which are its ends. The force is weakest in the middle of the magnet.

Students might think the magnetic force is evenly distributed throughout the magnet, or strongest in the middle, similar to how a solid object might have its mass concentrated in the center.