Why is it that two magnets can repel each other?

Why” is exactly the question that we cannot answer, because there is always a follow-up “why”, waiting to be asked. But that does NOT mean that “why” is the wrong question. Rather, it is the only important question. read more

Each magnet sends out a magnetic field, which is positive on one pole and negative on the other. This magnetic field is the result of the movement of negatively charged electrons within the magnet. These fields are strongest directly at the pole, which is why the ends of magnets will so powerfully repel or attract each other. read more

Because. That’s like asking why like charges repel each other. Or why gravity is only attractive. These things just are, and we can only try to describe and understand how they work, what the underlying mechanisms are. During the last couple centuries we gradually came to the realization, that there are no magnetic monopoles. read more

Electricity enters the magnet at the south pole and exits it at the north pole. This is why like poles repel each other. Electricity exiting one north pole can only bump up against another north pole; it can't enter it. And it's the same story at the south pole: Electricity can only enter at the south poles, so two south poles are forced apart. read more