This thread originates from within 'usenet', and as such the content and users are not guaranteed to have been moderated by our community. Don Phillipson:[nq:1]I'm watching the Simpsons. Bart says Eat my shorts a lot and I know it's some kind of insult. But I'm just wondering what SHORT means in this sentence.
Materials that can be magnetized, which are also the ones that are strongly attracted to a magnet, are called ferromagnetic (or ferrimagnetic). These include iron, nickel, cobalt, some alloys of rare earth metals, and some naturally occurring minerals such as lodestone.
Diamagnetism refers to materials that are not affected by a magnetic field. Paramagnetism refers to materials like aluminum or platinum which become magnetized in a magnetic field but their magnetism disappears when the field is removed. Ferromagnetism refers to materials (such as iron and nickel) that can retain their magnetic properties when the magnetic field is removed. Ferro is the Latin word for iron (this is the reason behind the atomic symbol of iron- Fe), a material which displays strong magnetic properties.