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Alan say: Magnets exists with both a north and south pole. If a magnet is placed next to another, it can reinforce or neutralize its neighbor depending on their orientation. All matter consists of subatomic materials. All have a magnetic nature. Most materials have subatomic materials all with random orientation. Should the sub microscopic magnets align, they reinforce each other and a magnet results. Magnets have their sub microscopic magnets aligned.
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Morningfox say: The "static" bar magnet is made up of atoms, and atoms have moving parts.
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Steve4Physics say: EDIT
A simple example of how “'magnetic fields do no work” is not always true.
Imagine 2 particles with *opposite” charges connected by a rigid rod. The charges are moving away from you (‘into the screen’).
[+Q]---[-Q]
A magnetic field acts to the right →.
The force on +Q is downwards. The force on -Q is upwards. This makes the system start to spin, so rotational kinetic energy is gained (work is done by the magnetic field).
This happens because the particles (charges) are connected.
END EDIT
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The electrons in an atom can be thought of as spinning charges, orbiting around a nucleus. (Though this isn't really accurate in quantum mechanical terms, but it will do.)
Each 'spinning' electron produces a small magnetic field. The orbital motion also produces a magnetic field, but spin’s field is the main one.
In iron (and a few other elements), the spins of some electrons in neighbouring atoms can get aligned in the same direction. We then get an overall magnetic field equal to sum of the fields from the aligned electrons.
So the ‘motion’ you are looking for is the ‘spin’ of the electrons.
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How magnets do work is a much harder question. This gets this regularly discussed at length and it causes many arguments. E.g. https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/wo...