What actually travels between two poles of a magnet to tranfer the repulsion or attraction force? I would assume it is something to do with positive and negative and if so, which is positive, north or south, and why do magnets give out these particles and why do they affect some materials like iron and nickel but others barely at all? Why does sliding a magnet across a piece of iron make it magnetic? Any other information regarding this sort of thing would be great. Thanks!
Nothing is travelling, it is just a magnetic force field. Where electricity is involved you are talking about electromagnetic force fields. Ferrous metals like iron have miniature magnets in their interior, by stroking theses materials with a magnetized object you will cause these miniature magnets to line up, the more they line up the more powerful will be the magnet.
Magnetic forces are forces that arise from the movement of electrical charge. Maxwell's equations and the Biot-Savart law describe the origin and behavior of the fields that govern these forces. Thus, magnetism is seen whenever electrically charged particles are in motion. This can arise either from movement of electrons in an electric current, resulting in electromagnetism, or from the quantum-mechanical spin and orbital motion of electrons, resulting in what are known as permanent magnets. Electron spin is the dominant effect within atoms. The so-called 'orbital motion' of electrons around the nucleus is a secondary effect that slightly modifies the magnetic field created by spin. The magnetic force is actually due[3] to the finite speed (the speed of light) of a disturbance of the electric field which gives rise to forces that appear to be acting along a line at right angles to the charges. In effect, the magnetic force is the portion of the electric force directed to where the charge used to be. For this reason magnetism can be considered to be basically an electric force that is a direct consequence of relativity.
Nothing is actually traveling. The field is created due motion of electrical charges. You asked a lot of questions, so let me just direct you to a great site.
