What happens when you heat a magnet with a candle flame? Above a certain temperature called the Curie point, magnetic materials lose their ability to stick to other magnets. You hang a small rare-earth magnet on a wire pendulum next to a large ceramic magnet. The rare-earth magnet jumps up and sticks to the ceramic one. A candle flame sits right beneath that contact point. The flame heats the small magnet past its Curie point. Gravity pulls it away from the big magnet and out of the flame. It cools and regains its magnetism. Then it snaps back up and the cycle repeats as long as the candle burns.