When a round magnet breaks, the pieces do not simply become non-magnetic; instead, each fragment develops its own north and south poles. Consequently, if two broken pieces are aligned with like poles facing each other, they repel. For instance, if you break a cylindrical neodymium magnet into two halves, you will observe that trying to push the flat, freshly broken ends together is challenging—they push apart. This is because the magnetic domains within the magnet reorient themselves to maintain a stable configuration, effectively turning each piece into a smaller, standalone magnet with both a north and a south pole.