Questions concering magnets and electromagnetism

[bobbydigital]

I am a bit confused about the concept of magnets. It is said that magnets attract opposites, and repel likes. Now does that refer to the material, or a magnet being attracted/repelled by another magnet?

Also...

If an electromagnetic apparatus is strong enough, will attract/pull just about any type of matter? What are the conditions for a certain type of material to be pulled in by electromagnets?

Thanks in advance.

The reason I was wondering this is because I recently read Angels and Demons, and in it antimatter is created, kept in a vacuum sealed device, and is held by a group of powerful electromagnets. Althought it is a work of fiction, antimatter has actually been created in a lab by CERN

 

[spacetime]

Every magnet has two poles. They are basically two different parts of a magnet. For historical reasons, they are called north and south poles. So basically, the attraction or repulsion is between the two poles. Two similar poles attract and opposite poles attract.

The characteristic of a material for being pulled by an electromagnet is that it should be magnetic or should become magnetic under the influence of the magnetic field of the electromagnet.