A student has two materials, steel and soft iron, and wants to use one of them to make a permanent magnet and the other as the core of an electromagnet. State which material should be used for each purpose and explain why each material is suited to its role.

Steel should be used to make the permanent magnet.
Steel is a magnetically hard material; it retains its magnetisation after the external field is removed, so it can act as a permanent magnet.
Soft iron should be used as the core of the electromagnet.
Soft iron is a magnetically soft material; it becomes strongly magnetised when a current is passed but loses its magnetisation quickly when the current is switched off, making it ideal for an electromagnet core.