The property of a magnet to attract small pieces of iron seems to be concentrated in small regions of the magnet. These regions are called magnetic poles.
A magnet has two poles. These poles are called the north pole (N-pole) and the south pole (S-pole). The N-pole of a magnet is that pole that points toward the north direction when the magnet is suspended freely in the earth’s magnetic field. Similarly, the S-pole is that which points toward the south direction.
When we draw lines of force due to a magnet, we find that in the outside space magnetic lines of force emerge out from its N-pole and converge into the S-pole. We know the electrical lines of force emerge out from a positive charge and converge into a negative charge. It can, therefore, be said that corresponding to the concept of electrical charges, we have the concept of magnetic poles. A source of magnetic lines of force for outside space is called a N-pole and a sink for them in a S-pole. But it should be noted that a magnet has one N-pole and the other S-pole. The magnetic lines of force never terminate and they run inside the magnet from the S-pole to the N-pole. In other words, a mono-pole i.e., an isolated pole does not exist in nature as an isolated positive or negative charge does.
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