paramagnetism
Sign in to savethumb|Liquid oxygen (blue) can be suspended between the poles of a strong magnet as a result of its paramagnetism.
AI overview
Paramagnetism is a property that allows certain materials to be attracted to magnetic fields, as demonstrated by liquid oxygen being able to float between magnet poles. This property matters because it helps scientists and engineers understand and work with materials in various applications involving magnetism.
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Article
16 sectionsContents
- Relation to electron spins
- Delocalization
- s and p electrons
- d and f electrons
- Molecular localization
- Theory
- Curie's law
- Pauli paramagnetism
- Examples of paramagnets
- Systems with minimal interactions
- Systems with interactions
- Superparamagnets
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|Liquid oxygen (blue) can be suspended between the poles of a strong magnet as a result of its paramagnetism.
Paramagnetism is a form of magnetism whereby some materials are weakly attracted by an externally applied magnetic field, and form internal, induced magnetic fields in the direction of the applied magnetic field. In contrast with this behavior, diamagnetic materials are repelled by magnetic fields and form induced magnetic fields in the direction opposite to that of the applied magnetic field. Paramagnetic materials include most chemical elements and some compounds; they have a relative magnetic permeability slightly greater than 1 (i.e., a small positive magnetic susceptibility) and hence are attracted to magnetic fields. The magnetic moment induced by the applied field is linear in the field strength and rather weak. It typically requires a sensitive analytical balance to detect the effect and modern measurements on paramagnetic materials are often conducted with a SQUID magnetometer.