Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Magnetic properties of holmium

diddi - 3-12-2014 at 16:11

I was showing off my newly displayed 4N Ho specimen and made the grand statement that it is the most magnetic element. so the guy grabs a NdFeB magnet and you guessed it, the Ho was not attracted.

Can someone explain this for me plz

Brain&Force - 3-12-2014 at 16:21

It has the highest magnetic moment, but it's not ferromagnetic. It is attracted to a NdFeB magnet, though.

Try dousing it with liquid nitrogen to hit the Curie temp (I don't know the exact temp though, it may be lower)

diddi - 3-12-2014 at 17:20

yeh it has a spin of 7/2
I will have to investigate further.

diddi - 4-12-2014 at 16:07

Well, a bit of forced reading rather than relying on memory has answered the question, so I post my finding for the edification of others. Thx to Brain&Force for the pointer :)
As is known widely, the electron spin for Ho is 7/2, and there are 2 isotopes than have nuclear spin of 7/2 as well (for the NMR buffs) That makes Ho the most paramagnetic element. However the unpaired electrons do not have their spins aligned so the element does not exhibit magnetic properties until it reaches the critical temperature at which the spins align (the Curie point). for Ho that temp is 20K, so if someone has some spare LH2 I can demonstrate that property.

Holmium is used as a magnetic flux concentrator where it is able to improve the magnetic flux density of a superconductor magnet from 2Tesla to up to nearly 16 T (Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on (Volume:21 , Issue: 2 ))

Brain&Force - 4-12-2014 at 18:46

Get some gadolinium for Curie temp madness (it happens at room temp).

diddi - 4-12-2014 at 18:50

I have a big lump! weighs about 1kg I think. wow it is 293K

"How curious" sorry :(

[Edited on 5-12-2014 by diddi]