Why are iron, cobalt, and nickel magnetic, but other metals are not?
In: Physics
This is a really complex topic, but to start, electrons act basically as tiny little magnets. They have a North Pole and a South Pole, and put out a tiny magnetic field.
In a lot of elements, electrons pair up, pointing in opposite directions, and mostly cancel out the magnetism, but some elements have unpaired electrons, which lets the magnetism add up, instead of cancelling.
Even this isn’t enough though. Some atoms like to line up facing opposite directions, cancelling the magnetism. Only certain elements like lining up all in the same direction, creating an even stronger magnetic field.
These atoms are called “ferromagnetic”, and that’s the type of magnetism you’re talking about. Because all their atoms like lining up in the same direction, and they have unpaired electrons, they can create a magnetic field, and respond strongly to outside magnetic fields.
As for why certain metals like lining up one way vs the other, that’s some quantum stuff that’s way outside the scope of an ELI5.
By the way, I skipped over a bunch, cause again, this is a really complex topic, but that should be enough to give you an idea.
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