• Question: Why is it only 3 different metals are magnetic? Do they have something they have all other metals don't?

    Asked by anawesomepersonlol to Claire, Sam on 27 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Claire Lee

      Claire Lee answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      ha! It seems a simple question but now you are actually going into the realms of quantum mechanics! Let me see if I can try to explain it…

      An electron actually acts as a really tiny magnet. In atoms, the electrons come is groups, called “shells”. If you have a full shell (group) of electrons, the magnetism of the electrons cancel out. (this is why not all things are magnetic).

      But if you have something whose atoms has a shell that is not totally full, and there is an “odd electron out” then that atom will have an overall tiny magnetism (“magnetic moment”, actually).

      Now that doesn’t give you magnetism, just the possibility for it! For something to be magnetic, all of the little electron-magnets have to line up.

      For most metals they don’t, they point all over the place, unless you do something to them (like with an electromagnet). But those 3 metals (actually there are 2 more but they are really rare) have a very particular atomic structure that allows their tiny electron-magnets to line up spontaneously, all on their own! That’s what makes them special.

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