11/25/14

Magnetic susceptibility and permeability

Next: Ferromagnetism Up: Dielectric and magnetic media Previous: Magnetization

Magnetic susceptibility and permeability

In a large class of materials, there exists an approximately linear relationship between
and . If the material is isotropic then
(866)

where

is called the magnetic susceptibility. If

is positive then the material is

called paramagnetic, and the magnetic field is strengthened by the presence of the
material. On the other hand, if
is negative then the material is diamagnetic, and the
magnetic field is weakened in the presence of the material. The magnetic susceptibilities of
paramagnetic and diamagnetic materials are generally extremely small. A few sample values
are given in Table. 2.1
Table 2:
Material
Aluminium
Copper
Diamond
Tungsten
Hydrogen (1 atm)
Oxygen (1 atm)
Nitrogen (1 atm)

A linear relationship between

. In fact, we can write

and

also implies a linear relationship between

and

(867)
farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/em/lectures/node74.html

1/2

11/25/14

Magnetic susceptibility and permeability

where
(868)

is termed the magnetic permeability of the material in question. (Likewise,

the permeability of free space.) Note that

has the same units as

is termed

. It is clear from

Table 2 that the permeabilities of common diamagnetic and paramagnetic materials do not
differ substantially from the permeability of free space. In fact, to all intents and purposes,
the magnetic properties of such materials can be safely neglected (i.e.,
).

Next: Ferromagnetism Up: Dielectric and magnetic media Previous: Magnetization

Richard Fitzpatrick 2006-02-02

farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/em/lectures/node74.html

2/2