Magnets and magnetism

as stated in the

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

magnet noun (OBJECT)

/ˈmæg.nət/ n [C]

an object that is able both to attract iron and steel objects and also push them away

and

magnet noun (ATTRACTION)

/ˈmæg.nət/ n [C]

a person, place or thing that other people feel strongly attracted to

I am compiling a study of magnets and magnetism. To find out what it is and why we could not survive without it.

As u know with out magnets the world would not go round the sun, the moon would not exist and we would not be talking the subject because we would not be around.
Magnets have not been fully appreciated for what it is...for instance, every electrical product or item u possess has a magnet/magnets for it to function.

In physics, the term magnetism is used to describe how materials respond on the microscopic level to an applied magnetic field; to categorize the magnetic phase of a material. For example, the most well known form of magnetism is ferromagnetism such that some ferromagnetic materials produce their own persistent magnetic field. Some well-known ferromagnetic materials that exhibit easily detectable magnetic properties (to form magnets) are nickel, iron, cobalt, gadolinium and their alloys. However, all materials are influenced to greater or lesser degree by the presence of a magnetic field. Some are attracted to a magnetic field (paramagnetism); others are repulsed by a magnetic field (diamagnetism); others have a much more complex relationship with an applied magnetic field. Substances that are negligibly affected by magnetic fields are known as non-magnetic substances. They include copper, aluminium, water, and gases.

The magnetic state (or phase) of a material depends on temperature (and other variables such as pressure and applied magnetic field) so that a material may exhibit more than one form of magnetism depending on its temperature, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetism