Gravity as well as electrostatic and magnetic attraction and repulsion provide real life examples of forces being exerted by one object on another without them being in contact with each other.
Scientists use the construct of a ‘field’ to explain how one object can affect another without touching it, even without any substance in between. There are three examples of such fields that we experience in everyday life:
A magnet is surrounded by a magnetic field which pushes or pulls other magnets and things made of iron, nickel or cobalt that are located within it. (Because its interior acts like a magnet, the Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that affects things made of magnetic material, such as compasses).
A charged object is surrounded by an electric field which exerts electrical forces on other things within the field.
The Earth is surrounded by a gravitational field that pulls all other objects towards its centre.