What are the ends of a bar magnet called?

What are the ends of a bar magnet called? They are called poles. The two ends are conventionally named the north pole and the south pole.

A bar magnet produces a magnetic field and behaves approximately like a magnetic dipole. Field lines are conventionally drawn as emerging from the north pole and entering the south pole outside the magnet. Unlike electric charges, isolated magnetic poles have never been observed in ordinary magnets.

The word “pole” can make the ends sound like separate particles, but that is a useful model rather than a literal description. If a bar magnet is broken in half, each piece becomes a smaller magnet with its own north and south poles. Breaking it does not isolate a north pole from a south pole.

Opposite magnetic poles attract, while like poles repel. A freely suspended magnet aligns approximately with Earth’s magnetic field, which is why a compass can indicate direction. A subtle terminology trap is that Earth’s geographic North Pole lies near a magnetic region that attracts a compass’s north-seeking end; naming conventions can therefore seem reversed. For the quiz question, however, the canonical term for the ends is simply “poles.”