When I was a kid we used to play around with magnets doing tricks and magnetizing different metallic objects. The thing is that there are so many different, important, things that magnets are used for. Probably the simplest and most used magnet is the fridge magnet, but magnets have far more important uses.
Food processes use magnets to ensure that small metallic filings from machinery does not enter the food products. Another common use of magnets is in electric motors and generators without which society would find that many of their day to day luxuries would be sorely lacking.
my daughter actually enjoyed her science lab last week using a battery, wire and clips to magnetize a nail! I never thought about magnets being used in food processing!!
First I heard of it as well Silken. Just goes to show that you are never too old to learn.