what indicates that a piece of iron is magnetic,its attraction to or repulsion from another piece of iron?
Iron materials, and other ferromagnetic materials, contain magnetic domains at the microscopic level. These magnetic domains are a collection of atoms each with aligned magnetism of electrons. All domains are fully aligned internally, but. different magnetic domains are not necessarily aligned. Ordinary iron has its magnetic domains pointed in scattered directions, such that magnetism cancels out. Iron which is magnetized has some or all of its magnetic domains aligned, such that it produces its own magnetic field.
