Book 21, Question 49
Why Do Magnets Ignore Real Gold and Silver?
Gold and silver are beautiful, but magnets just ignore them. These shiny metals are not magnetic at all. Pure iron is much more magnetic than any common jewelry metal.
More fun facts
- Magnetism in materials comes from their electrons, which react to an outside magnetic field.
- Because all atoms have electrons, every material is diamagnetic, at least a tiny bit.
- In a diamagnetic material, the electrons respond to a magnet's field by, in a way, spinning faster.
- Gold is diamagnetic, so it does not swing into line with a magnetic field.
- In paramagnetic materials, the electrons go back to pointing every which way as soon as the magnet is taken away.
- That is very different from iron, which can keep its alignment after the magnet is gone.
Sources: nationalmaglab.org
Questions kids ask
Do gold and platinum act the same near a strong magnet?
No. A platinum disk turns to line up with a strong field, but a gold disk does not.