Question

You have two electrically neutral metal cylinders that exert strong attractive forces on each other. You have no other metal objects. Can you determine if both of the cylinders are magnets, or if one is a magnet and the other is just a piece of iron? If so, how? If not, why not?

Short answer

Turn one of the cylinders, if they repel, therefore both are magnets and if they still attract, therefore, one of them is metal.

Step-by-step solution

Given Information

We need to find if both of the cylinders are magnets, or if one is a magnet and the other is just a piece of iron.

Explanation

Check the two cylinders to be magnets, we turn one of the magnets and make the other side of the magnet faces the first one, if they repel, both of they are magnets because similar poles of magnets repel with each other.
In the second case, if they still attract each other even after turning the pole of one of them, So, one of these cylinders is a magnet and the other is just a metal. Because the alignment of the positive and negative charges on the metal depends on the pole of the magnet facing the metal.