Themes > Science > Physics > Solid State Physics > Magnetic Properties of Solids > Magnetic Susceptibilities of Paramagnetic and Diamagnetic Materials at 20°C
 
Material cm=Km-1
(x 10-5)
 
Paramagnetic
Iron aluminum alum 66
Uranium 40
Platinum 26
Aluminum 2.2
Sodium 0.72
Oxygen gas 0.19
Diamagnetic
Bismuth -16.6
Mercury -2.9
Silver -2.6
Carbon (diamond) -2.1
Lead -1.8
Sodium chloride -1.4
Copper -1.0
Paramagnetism Diamagnetism
Here the quantity Km is called the relative permeability, a quantity which measures the ratio of the internal magnetization to the applied magnetic field. If the material does not respond to the magnetic field by magnetizing, then the field in the material will be just the applied field and the relative permeability Km =1. A positive relative permeability greater than 1 implies that the material magnetizes in response to the applied magnetic field. The quantity cm is called magnetic susceptibility, and it is just the permeability minus 1. The magnetic susceptibility is then zero if the material does not respond with any magnetization. So both quantities give the same information, and both are dimensionless quantities.

For ordinary solids and liquids at room temperature, the relative permeability Km is typically in the range 1.00001 to 1.003. We recognize this weak magnetic character of common materials by the saying "they are not magnetic", which recognizes their great contrast to the magnetic response of ferromagnetic materials. More precisely, they are either paramagnetic or diamagnetic, but that represents a very small magnetic response compared to ferromagnets.


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