Can you weaken a magnetic field with the peresnce of ferris materials?

[Gabe21]

suppose you had a magnetic rod with a diameter of 1" and around 18 inches long, and the north and south poles are oriented at the ends of the rod. if you stuck the north end of the magnet to a piece of steel would it effect the magnetic pull at the southern end?

if the north and south poles had an attraction force of 20 pounds when independently stuck to steel, if steel was stuck to both ends would it only have an attraction force of ten pounds at the poles?

 

[cragar]

well you could look at Magnetic susceptibility of the material . Inside the material the B field would be weaker but out in air the B field will be the same as if the material wasn't even there.