system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Is there any material that stops magnetic pull?

Hello. So I'm trying to create an item for just kind of my science hobby. The device requires two magnets set in place and a wheel with several extensions off of it with magnets on the end of each limb. The idea is that the two magnets would push the magnet on limb causing the wheel to turn and then the next limb would come between the two magnets moving it forward. Now the problem is when the next magnet approaches the opposite pole of the magnet is facing so they push back the opposite direction. Is there a way to block one side of a magnetic pull with a material or something different? Any suggestions would be helpful!
gpt
Well there is a metal commonly referred to as "mu-metal" which is a nickel-iron-molybdenum alloy. It has high permeability and so makes it a useful magnetic shield.

The catch is that means that the shield interacts with the magnetic field, so moving the shield into place would take more energy* than you could recover from the magnets interacting with each other.

*Because you always give up a little to heat and other losses. The laws of thermodynamics win every time.