How do magnets work? The short answer A magnet is an object wherein most or all of its electrons move in the same direction, creating a magnetic field with north and south ends. The long answer Let's zoom in all the way to the atomic level. Atoms are the smallest unit of matter, and electrons spin around the nucleus of the atom. The spinning of electrons forms a tiny magnetic field. In most materials, the atoms have electrons that spin in different directions from each other, so their...