The materials that strong magnets can attract are classified as ferromagnetic, paramagnetic or diamagnetic. These classifications are used to depict the extent to which the material can be attracted by magnets. The following Xiaobian takes us to understand which information can attract a strong magnet.
1. Ferromagnetic materials
Ferromagnetic information: gadolinium, iron, cobalt and nickel
Ferromagnetic data (containing iron, nickel, cobalt or gadolinium) is magnetically attracted by force.
Ferromagnetic data are so classified because their atoms have a high level of magnetism due to the way their electrons are placed. The electrons are simply placed in the same magnetic direction, giving them a gravitational pull on the magnet.
Most stainless steel varieties are classified as ferromagnetic, but not all are ferromagnetic, for example, austenitic stainless steel is a non-magnetic stainless steel.
Whether stainless steel is classified as ferromagnetic depends on whether it is made of alloys, as some alloys contain high nickel, which negatively affects magnetism.
2. Paramagnetic data
Because paramagnetic metals have a limited number of electrons placed in the same magnetic direction, their attraction to magnets is very weak. However, these metals are not enough to generate their own magnetic force.
In contrast, they are about a million times weaker than ferromagnetic data, meaning their magnetic fields can only be measured by very active instruments, such as magnetometers.
Examples of paramagnetic data are aluminum, uranium and platinum.
3. Anti-magnetic data
Antimagnetic data is a metal that can weakly repel a magnet when close to a strong magnetic field. They themselves create small magnetic fields opposite north and south poles, so that the two magnetic fields repel each other.
Metals such as bismuth and carbon graphite are types of diamagnetic materials.
4. Non-magnetic materials
Nonmagnetic data are those that have atoms that do not become magnetic, no matter how large they are exposed to a magnetic field. For example, wood, plastic and glass are classified as non-magnetic substances.
