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Am I right in understanding that individual atoms have a magnetic field? If so, does it have anything to do with charge and spin?

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  • 4 years ago
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    "Spin" is by definition the magnetic moment of the individual particle. So it has everything to do with spin.

    A material which is magnetized has the spins of the electrons lined up so they add up to a larger total magnetic field. In a non-magnetized material, the spins are randomly oriented so they cancel each other out.

  • 4 years ago

    In the simplest terms imagine a hydrogen atom with an electron going around the nucleus.

    Imagine that instead of orbiting in all planes it was like the earth where the electron only orbited in a single plane.

    You would have a current ( electron) moving in a circular path ( a coil) generating a magnetic field.

    Now this is an oversimplification but it shows that if there is any assymetry in the orbits of electrons the magnetic fields will not cancel to zero.

  • 4 years ago

    Yes---speaking simply, the movement of the electron generates a magnetic moment and field.

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