[edit] Two models for magnets: magnetic poles and atomic currents
See also: Magnetic moment#Examples of magnetic moments
Magnetic pole model: Although for many purposes it is convenient to think of a magnet as having distinct north and south magnetic poles, the concept of poles should not be taken literally: it is merely a way of referring to the two different ends of a magnet. The magnet does not have distinct "north" or "south" particles on opposing sides. (No magnetic monopole has yet been observed.) If a bar magnet is broken in half, in an attempt to separate the north and south poles, the result will be two bar magnets, each of which has both a north and south pole.
The magnetic pole approach is used by professional magneticians to design permanent magnets. In this approach, the pole surfaces of a permanent magnet are imagined to be covered with 'magnetic charge', little 'north pole' particles on the north pole and 'south poles' on the south pole, that are the source of the magnetic field lines. If the magnetic pole distribution is known, then outside the magnet the pole model gives the magnetic field exactly. In the interior of the magnet this model fails to give the correct field, but (see Units and Calculations, below). This pole model is also called the "Gilbert model" of a magnetic dipole.[2] Griffiths suggests (p. 258): "My advice is to use the Gilbert model, if you like, to get an intuitive "feel" for a problem, but never rely on it for quantitative results."
Ampère model: Another model is the "Ampère model", where all magnetization is due to the effect of microscopic, or atomic, circular "bound currents", also called "Ampèrian currents" throughout the material. For a uniformly magnetized cylindrical bar magnet, the net effect of the microscopic bound currents is to make the magnet behave as if there is a macroscopic sheet of electric current flowing around the surface, with local flow direction normal to the cylinder axis. (Since scraping off the outer layer of a magnet will not destroy its magnetic field, it can be seen that this is just a model, and the tiny currents are actually distributed throughout the material). The right-hand rule tells which direction the current flows. The Ampere model gives the exact magnetic field both inside and outside the magnet. It is usually difficult to calculate the Amperian currents on the surface of a magnet, whereas it is often easier to find the effective poles for the same magnet.
[edit] Pole naming conventions
The north pole of the magnet is the pole which, when the magnet is freely suspended, points towards the Earth's magnetic north pole in northern Canada. Since opposite poles (north and south) attract whereas like poles (north and north, or south and south) repel, the Earth's present geographic north is thus actually its magnetic south. Confounding the situation further, the Earth's magnetic field has reversed itself many times in the distant past.
As a practical matter, in order to tell which pole of a magnet is north and which is south, it is not necessary to use the earth's magnetic field at all. For example, one calibration method would be to compare it to an electromagnet, whose poles can be identified by the right-hand rule.
[edit] Descriptions of magnetic behaviors
There are several types of magnetism, and all materials exhibit at least one of them. This section describes, qualitatively, the primary types of magnetic behavior that materials can show. The physics underlying each of these behaviors is described in the next section below, and can also be found in more detail in their respective articles.
Ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic materials are the ones normally thought of as 'magnetic'; they are attracted to a magnet strongly enough that the attraction can be felt. These materials are the only ones that can retain magnetization and become magnets; a common example is a traditional refrigerator magnet. Ferrimagnetic materials, which include ferrites and the oldest magnetic materials magnetite and lodestone, are similar to but weaker than ferromagnetics. The difference between ferro- and ferrimagnetic materials is related to their microscopic structure, as explained below.
Paramagnetic substances such as platinum, aluminum, and oxygen are weakly attracted to a magnet. This effect is hundreds of thousands of times weaker than ferromagnetic materials attraction, so it can only be detected by using sensitive instruments, or using extremely strong magnets. Magnetic ferrofluids, although they are made of tiny ferromagnetic particles suspended in liquid, are sometimes considered paramagnetic since they cannot be magnetized.
Diamagnetic means repelled by both poles. Compared to paramagnetic and ferromagnetic substances, diamagnetic substances such as carbon, copper, water, and plastic are even more weakly repelled by a magnet. The permeability of diamagnetic materials is less than the permeability of a vacuum. All substances not possessing one of the other types of magnetism are diamagnetic; this includes most substances. Although force on a diamagnetic object from an ordinary magnet is far too weak to be felt, using extremely strong superconducting magnets diamagnetic objects such as pieces of lead and even frogs can be levitated so they float in midair. Superconductors repel magnetic fields from their interior and are strongly diamagnetic.
Physics of magnetic behaviors
Overview
Magnetism, at its root, arises from two sources:
Electric currents, or more generally moving electric charges, create magnetic fields (see Maxwell's Equations).
Many particles have nonzero "intrinsic" (or "spin") magnetic moments. (Just as each particle, by its nature, has a certain mass and charge, each has a certain magnetic moment, possibly zero.)
In magnetic materials, the most important sources of magnetization are, more specifically, the electrons' orbital angular motion around the nucleus, and the electrons' intrinsic magnetic moment (see Electron magnetic dipole moment). The other potential sources of magnetism are much less important: For example, the nuclear magnetic moments of the nuclei in the material are typically thousands of times smaller than the electrons' magnetic moments, so they are negligible in the context of the magnetization of materials. (Nuclear magnetic moments are important in other contexts, particularly in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).)
Ordinarily, the countless electrons in a material are arranged such that their magnetic moments (both orbital and intrinsic) cancel out. This is due, to some extent, to electrons combining into pairs with opposite intrinsic magnetic moments (as a result of the Pauli exclusion principle; see Electron configuration), or combining into "filled subshells" with zero net orbital motion; in both cases, the electron arrangement is so as to exactly cancel the magnetic moments from each electron. Moreover, even when the electron configuration is such that there are unpaired electrons and/or non-filled subshells, it is often the case that the various electrons in the solid will contribute magnetic moments that point in different, random directions, so that the material will not be magnetic.
However, sometimes (either spontaneously, or owing to an applied external magnetic field) each of the electron magnetic moments will be, on average, lined up. Then the material can produce a net total magnetic field, which can potentially be quite strong.
The magnetic behavior of a material depends on its structure (particularly its electron configuration, for the reasons mentioned above), and also on the temperature (at high temperatures, random thermal motion makes it more difficult for the electrons to maintain alignment).
[edit] Physics of paramagnetism
Main article: Paramagnetism
In a paramagnetic material there are unpaired electrons, i.e. atomic or molecular orbitals with exactly one electron in them. While paired electrons are required by the Pauli exclusion principle to have their intrinsic ('spin') magnetic moments pointing in opposite directions, causing their magnetic fields to cancel out, an unpaired electron is free to align its magnetic moment in any direction. When an external magnetic field is applied, these magnetic moments will tend to align themselves in the same direction as the applied field, thus reinforcing it.
[edit] Physics of diamagnetism
Main article: Diamagnetism
In a diamagnetic material, there are no unpaired electrons, so the intrinsic electron magnetic moments cannot produce any bulk effect. In these cases, the magnetization arises from the electrons' orbital motions, which can be understood classically as follows:
When a material is put in a magnetic field, the electrons circling the nucleus will experience, in addition to their Coulomb attraction to the nucleus, a Lorentz force from the magnetic field. Depending on which direction the electron is orbiting, this force may increase the centripetal force on the electrons, pulling them in towards the nucleus, or it may decrease the force, pulling them away from the nucleus. This effect systematically increases the orbital magnetic moments that were aligned opposite the field, and decreases the ones aligned parallel to the field (in accordance with Lenz's law). This results in a small bulk magnetic moment, with an opposite direction to the applied field.
Note that this description is meant only as an heuristic; a proper understanding requires a quantum-mechanical description.
Note that all materials undergo this orbital response. However, in paramagnetic and ferromagnetic substances, the diamagnetic effect is overwhelmed by the much stronger effects caused by the unpaired electrons.