strong magnets

If you need some really strong magnets for any kind of project or just for fun, find a broken hard drive and
open it. Most modern hard disks have a very powerful pair of magnets inside. You'll need a hex driver, since most HDs use those screws. Also, do not stick one magnet to the other! It will be very hard to detach them and you're very likely to break the magnets trying to do so.

Of course, you can also order strong magnets from a catalog such as Edmund Scientific. My high school earth science teacher had one he'd ordered that could lift ten pounds of iron.

I recall using it to separate micrometeorites from dust we'd gathered (covering the magnet with paper first to keep them from sticking permanently. If anyone's interested in my writing up more detailed instructions, you could msg me; it makes an interesting project.