Re: Can/How do you make iron or other element magnetic without a magnet?

Hello, Richard!

Let's start with a "quick tour" of magnetism in iron. Taken on an atom-by-
atom basis, iron is always magnetic so long as the electron clouds of the
atoms are not "overly excited". This atomic-sized magnetism arises from the 
particular configuration of the electrons in the iron atom. However, unless 
we can somehow line up the atom-sized magnets so their individual magnetic 
fields are pointing in the same direction, we will not sense any net 
magnetic field.  So long as the iron is cool enough, the atoms will align 
locally into "groups" that are effectively small magnets and are called 
magnetic domains. Within each domain, all the iron atoms have their magnetic 
fields lined up. Without something (i.e. a magnetic field) forcing them to 
align, these domains are randomly oriented and thus their individual 
magnetic fields cancel out in the aggregate. 

Now let's hit your questions  one by one:

Richard:  Is iron in its raw form magnetic, or does it have to magnetized? 

Mad Scientist: See above for the "typical" state of iron.  

Richard:  How do you magnetize something? If you had a piece if iron how 
would you make it magnetic without a magnet to rub up against it? Motion of 
some kind maybe? 

Mad Scientist:  To magnetize something, you must force the domains to line 
up so their magnetic fields are mostly parallel. Rubbing something may help 
speed up the process, because it heats the material and the domains reorient 
more quickly as the temperature goes up.  (Aside: a magnetized material has 
a point known as its Curie temperature at which it will lose its magnetic 
properties due to thermal jiggling randomizing the domains. If the material 
then cools down below the Curie temperature without a magnetic field 
present, it will not have any net magnetic field as the cooling domains will 
freeze into place in random directions.  If it cools down with a field 
present, that field will tend to reorient the domains and the iron will end 
up magnetized). The source of the magnetic field used does not need to be a 
physical magnet; you can also use the magnetic field generated by a 
solenoid, for example.

Richard:  Two pieces of iron rubbing against each other, would that make 
them magnetic? 

Mad Scientist:  Not in the absence of a magnetic field, but the Earth's
magnetic field is always around unless you take steps to exclude it with 
shielding. The magnetization arising from the Earth's weak field may not be 
much, but there should be some. Note that as lavas coming up from the mantle 
freeze into place along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the Earth's field magnetizes 
the iron in the rock enough so that the pattern of the reversals of the 
Earth's field through time can be observed.

Richard:  How is magnetism achieved, [in laymans terms if possible]?

Mad Scientist:  Think of iron as a collection of zillions of tiny magnets,
each of which is a single iron atom. Left to themselves, they will line up
in little groups (the magnetic domains), but the number of domains is very
large and they are randomly oriented in space. So all their magnetic fields 
end up averaging out to zero or close to it. To achieve a magnetized 
material, we force the domains to line up with each other by applying a 
magnetic field. 

To get further information, I'd suggest  an introductory text in materials 
science, or perhaps a freshman/sophomore physics text (generally physics
texts are not quite so useful when discussing material properties, but they
certainly cover the basics of electromagnetic theory).