9/29/2015

DiamagnetismWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Diamagnetism
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Diamagneticmaterialscreateaninducedmagneticfieldina
directionoppositetoanexternallyappliedmagneticfield,andare
repelledbytheappliedmagneticfield.Incontrast,theopposite
behaviorisexhibitedbyparamagneticmaterials.Diamagnetismisa
quantummechanicaleffectthatoccursinallmaterialswhenitisthe
onlycontributiontothemagnetismthematerialiscalleda
diamagnet.Unlikeaferromagnet,adiamagnetisnotapermanent
magnet.Itsmagneticpermeabilityislessthan0,thepermeability
ofvacuum.Inmostmaterialsdiamagnetismisaweakeffect,buta
superconductorrepelsthemagneticfieldentirely,apartfromathin
layeratthesurface.
DiamagnetswerefirstdiscoveredwhenSebaldJustinusBrugmans
observedin1778thatbismuthandantimonywererepelledby
magneticfields.In1845,MichaelFaradaydemonstratedthatitwas
apropertyofmatterandconcludedthateverymaterialresponded(in
eitheradiamagneticorparamagneticway)toanappliedmagnetic
field.Headoptedthetermdiamagnetismafteritwassuggestedto
himbyWilliamWhewell.[1]

Levitatingpyrolyticcarbon

Contents
1Materials
1.1Superconductors
2Demonstrations
2.1Curvingwatersurfaces
2.2Levitation
3Theory
3.1Langevindiamagnetism
3.2Inmetals
4Seealso
5References
6Externallinks

Materials
Diamagnetism,toagreaterorlesserdegree,isapropertyofallmaterialsandalwaysmakesaweak
contributiontothematerial'sresponsetoamagneticfield.Formaterialsthatshowsomeotherformof
magnetism(suchasferromagnetismorparamagnetism),thediamagneticcontributionbecomesnegligible.
Substancesthatmostlydisplaydiamagneticbehaviouraretermeddiamagneticmaterials,ordiamagnets.
Materialscalleddiamagneticarethosethatlaymengenerallythinkofasnonmagnetic,andincludewater,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamagnetism

1/5

9/29/2015

DiamagnetismWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

wood,mostorganiccompoundssuchaspetroleumandsomeplastics,
andmanymetalsincludingcopper,particularlytheheavyoneswith
manycoreelectrons,suchasmercury,goldandbismuth.Themagnetic
susceptibilityvaluesofvariousmolecularfragmentsarecalledPascal's
constants.
Diamagneticmaterials,likewater,orwaterbasedmaterials,havea
relativemagneticpermeabilitythatislessthanorequalto1,and
thereforeamagneticsusceptibilitylessthanorequalto0,since
susceptibilityisdefinedasv=v1.Thismeansthatdiamagnetic

Notablediamagnetic
materials[2]
Material

v(105)

Superconductor

105

Pyrolyticcarbon

40.9

Bismuth

16.6

Mercury

2.9

materialsarerepelledbymagneticfields.However,sincediamagnetism Silver
issuchaweakpropertyitseffectsarenotobservableineverydaylife.
Carbon(diamond)
Forexample,themagneticsusceptibilityofdiamagnetssuchaswateris
Lead
v=9.05 106.Themoststronglydiamagneticmaterialisbismuth,
Carbon(graphite)
v=1.66 104,althoughpyrolyticcarbonmayhaveasusceptibilityof
Copper
4
v=4.00 10 inoneplane.Nevertheless,thesevaluesareordersof Water

2.6
2.1
1.8
1.6
1.0
0.91

magnitudesmallerthanthemagnetismexhibitedbyparamagnetsand
ferromagnets.Notethatbecausevisderivedfromtheratioofthe
internalmagneticfieldtotheappliedfield,itisadimensionlessvalue.
Allconductorsexhibitaneffectivediamagnetismwhentheyexperienceachangingmagneticfield.The
Lorentzforceonelectronscausesthemtocirculatearoundformingeddycurrents.Theeddycurrentsthen
produceaninducedmagneticfieldoppositetheappliedfield,resistingtheconductor'smotion.

Superconductors
Superconductorsmaybeconsideredperfectdiamagnets(v=1),
sincetheyexpelallfields(exceptinathinsurfacelayer)duetothe
Meissnereffect.[3]Howeverthiseffectisnotduetoeddycurrents,
asinordinarydiamagneticmaterials(seethearticleon
superconductivity).

Demonstrations
Curvingwatersurfaces
Ifapowerfulmagnet(suchasasupermagnet)iscoveredwitha
layerofwater(thatisthincomparedtothediameterofthemagnet)
thenthefieldofthemagnetsignificantlyrepelsthewater.This
causesaslightdimpleinthewater'ssurfacethatmaybeseenbyits
reflection.[4][5]

Transitionfromordinaryconductivity
(left)tosuperconductivity(right).At
thetransition,thesuperconductor
expelsthemagneticfieldandthen
actsasaperfectdiamagnet.

Levitation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamagnetism

2/5

9/29/2015

DiamagnetismWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Mainarticle:MagneticlevitationDiamagnetism
Diamagnetsmaybelevitatedinstableequilibriuminamagnetic
field,withnopowerconsumption.Earnshaw'stheoremseemsto
precludethepossibilityofstaticmagneticlevitation.However,
Earnshaw'stheoremonlyappliestoobjectswithpositive
susceptibilities,suchasferromagnets(whichhaveapermanent
positivemoment)andparamagnets(whichinduceapositive
moment).Theseareattractedtofieldmaxima,whichdonotexistin
freespace.Diamagnets(whichinduceanegativemoment)are
attractedtofieldminima,andtherecanbeafieldminimuminfree
space.
Athinsliceofpyrolyticgraphite,whichisanunusuallystrong
diamagneticmaterial,canbestablyfloatedinamagneticfield,such
asthatfromrareearthpermanentmagnets.Thiscanbedonewithall
componentsatroomtemperature,makingavisuallyeffective
demonstrationofdiamagnetism.

Alivefroglevitatesinsidea32mm
diameterverticalboreofaBitter
solenoidinamagneticfieldofabout
16teslasattheNijmegenHighField
MagnetLaboratory. [6]

TheRadboudUniversityNijmegen,theNetherlands,hasconducted
experimentswherewaterandothersubstancesweresuccessfullylevitated.Mostspectacularly,alivefrog
(seefigure)waslevitated.[7]
InSeptember2009,NASA'sJetPropulsionLaboratoryinPasadena,Californiaannouncedtheyhad
successfullylevitatedmiceusingasuperconductingmagnet,[8]animportantstepforwardsincemiceare
closerbiologicallytohumansthanfrogs.[9]Theyhopetoperformexperimentsregardingtheeffectsof
microgravityonboneandmusclemass.
Recentexperimentsstudyingthegrowthofproteincrystalshasledtoatechniqueusingpowerfulmagnets
toallowgrowthinwaysthatcounteractEarth'sgravity.[10]
Asimplehomemadedevicefordemonstrationcanbeconstructedoutofbismuthplatesandafew
permanentmagnetsthatlevitateapermanentmagnet.[11]

Theory
Theelectronsinamaterialgenerallycirculateinorbitals,witheffectivelyzeroresistanceandactlike
currentloops.Thusitmightbeimaginedthatdiamagnetismeffectsingeneralwouldbevery,verycommon,
sinceanyappliedmagneticfieldwouldgeneratecurrentsintheseloopsthatwouldopposethechange,ina
similarwaytosuperconductors,whichareessentiallyperfectdiamagnets.However,sincetheelectronsare
rigidlyheldinorbitalsbythechargeoftheprotonsandarefurtherconstrainedbythePauliexclusion
principle,manymaterialsexhibitdiamagnetism,buttypicallyrespondverylittletotheappliedfield.
TheBohrvanLeeuwentheoremprovesthattherecannotbeanydiamagnetismorparamagnetismina
purelyclassicalsystem.However,theclassicaltheoryforLangevindiamagnetismgivesthesameprediction
asthequantumtheory.[12]Theclassicaltheoryisgivenbelow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamagnetism

3/5

9/29/2015

DiamagnetismWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Langevindiamagnetism
TheLangevintheoryofdiamagnetismappliestomaterialscontainingatomswithclosedshells(see
dielectrics).AfieldwithintensityB,appliedtoanelectronwithchargeeandmassm,givesrisetoLarmor
precessionwithfrequency=eB/2m.Thenumberofrevolutionsperunittimeis/2,sothecurrent
foranatomwithZelectronsis(inSIunits)[12]

Themagneticmomentofacurrentloopisequaltothecurrenttimestheareaoftheloop.Supposethefield
isalignedwiththezaxis.Theaverageloopareacanbegivenas
,where
isthemeansquare
distanceoftheelectronsperpendiculartothezaxis.Themagneticmomentistherefore

Ifthedistributionofchargeissphericallysymmetric,wecansupposethatthedistributionofx,y,z
coordinatesareindependentandidenticallydistributed.Then
,where
meansquaredistanceoftheelectronsfromthenucleus.Therefore
.If
numberofatomsperunitvolume,thediamagneticsusceptibilityinSIunitsis

isthe
isthe

Inmetals
TheLangevintheorydoesnotapplytometalsbecausetheyhavenonlocalizedelectrons.Thetheoryforthe
diamagnetismofafreeelectrongasiscalledLandaudiamagnetism,andinsteadconsiderstheweak
counteractingfieldthatformswhentheirtrajectoriesarecurvedduetotheLorentzforce.Landau
diamagnetism,however,shouldbecontrastedwithPauliparamagnetism,aneffectassociatedwiththe
polarizationofdelocalizedelectrons'spins.[13][14]

Seealso
Ferromagnetism
Magnetochemistry
Paramagnetism
Stochasticelectrodynamics

References
1. Jackson,Roland(21July2014)."JohnTyndallandtheEarlyHistoryofDiamagnetism".AnnalsofScience:4.
doi:10.1080/00033790.2014.929743.Retrieved28October2014.
2. Nave,CarlL."MagneticPropertiesofSolids".HyperPhysics.Retrieved20081109.
3. Poole,Jr.,CharlesP.(2007).Superconductivity(2nded.).Amsterdam:AcademicPress.p.23.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamagnetism

4/5

9/29/2015

4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.

DiamagnetismWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

ISBN9780080550480.
Beatty,Bill(2005)."Neodymiumsupermagnets:SomedemonstrationsDiamagneticwater".ScienceHobbyist.
RetrievedSeptember2011.
Quit007(2011)."DiamagnetismGallery".DeviantART.RetrievedSeptember2011.
"TheFrogThatLearnedtoFly".HighFieldLaboratory.RadboudUniversityNijmegen.2011.Retrieved
September2011.
"TheRealLevitation".HighFieldLaboratory.RadboudUniversityNijmegen.2011.RetrievedSeptember2011.
Liu,YuanmingZhu,DaMingStrayer,DonaldM.Israelsson,UlfE.(2010)."Magneticlevitationoflarge
waterdropletsandmice".AdvancesinSpaceResearch45(1):208213.Bibcode:2010AdSpR..45..208L.
doi:10.1016/j.asr.2009.08.033.
Choi,CharlesQ.(20090909)."Micelevitatedinlab".LiveScience.RetrievedSeptember2011.
Kleiner,Kurt(08102007)."Magneticgravitytrickgrowsperfectcrystals".NewScientist.RetrievedSeptember
2011.Checkdatevaluesin:|date=(help)
"Funwithdiamagneticlevitation".ForceField.02122008.RetrievedSeptember2011.Checkdatevaluesin:
|date=(help)
Kittel,Charles(1986).IntroductiontoSolidStatePhysics(6thed.).JohnWiley&Sons.pp.299302.ISBN0
471874744.
Chang,M.C."Diamagnetismandparamagnetism"(PDF).NTNUlecturenotes.Retrieved20110224.
Drakos,NikosMoore,RossYoung,Peter(2002)."Landaudiamagnetism".Electronsinamagneticfield.
Retrieved27November2012.

Externallinks
Videoofamuseumstylemagneticelevationtrainmodelthatusesdiamagnetism
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tFsrGRwOOM)
Videosoffrogsandotherdiamagnetslevitatedinastrongmagneticfield
(http://www.ru.nl/hfml/research/levitation/diamagnetic/)
DiamagneticLevitation(YouTube)(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezXYE5iFM_o)
LargePyrolyticCarbonSquareFloating(YouTube)(https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=OiEVrhmThts)
Videoofapieceofneodymiummagnetlevitatingbetweenblocksofbismuth.
(http://netti.nic.fi/~054028/images/LevitorMK1.01.mpg)
Websiteaboutthisdevice,withimages(inFinnish).(http://netti.nic.fi/~054028/)
Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Diamagnetism&oldid=682618280"
Categories: Electricandmagneticfieldsinmatter Magneticlevitation Magnetism
Thispagewaslastmodifiedon24September2015,at21:36.
TextisavailableundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionShareAlikeLicenseadditionaltermsmay
apply.Byusingthissite,youagreetotheTermsofUseandPrivacyPolicy.Wikipediaisa
registeredtrademarkoftheWikimediaFoundation,Inc.,anonprofitorganization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamagnetism

5/5