In the separation of the Iron experiment.
Why shouldn't students stick the magnet directly into the mixture?
Metals that attract magnets are known as ferromagnetic metals. These metals are made up of billions of individual atoms that have magnetic properties, meaning magnets stick to them firmly.
Some examples are iron, cobalt, nickel, steel (because it is mostly iron), manganese, gadolinium and lodestone.
Pure iron is ferromagnetic and will almost certainly be affected by a magnet as long as the magnet is generating a strong enough field. Iron sticks to magnets because the magnet magnetizes it, or at least the surface of the iron, in such a way so that the iron becomes a magnet with opposite poles to the original.
The iron could be magnetized. In this case, if try to stick the magnetized iron to the wrong side of the magnet it would repel instead of a stick. It could be a very weak repelling force and may not be able to feel it.
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