Metals that have iron in them attract magnets well. Steel is one. Metals like brass, copper, zinc and aluminum are not attracted to magnets. Non-magnetic materials such as wood and glass are not attracted to magnets as they do not have magnetic materials in them.

I should note that zinc is not magnetic unless you put it in a very strong magnetic field and then it will be slightly magnetic until you remove the field. But for practical purposes zinc is not magnetic.

Nearly all circulating pennies at that time were struck in zinc–coated steel because copper and nickel were needed for the Allied war effort. If it sticks to the magnet, it is not copper. If it does not stick, the coin might be of copper and should be authenticated by an expert.

Zinc is a lustrous bluish-white metal. It is found in group IIb of the periodic table. It is brittle and crystalline at ordinary temperatures, but it becomes ductile and malleable when heated between 110°C and 150°C.

The d-orbital can hold a maximum of 10 electrons, so copper has no unpaired d-electrons. Magnets can be made from substances that have permanent magnetic domains. Pure copper can’t be made into a magnet because it doesn’t have these magnetic domains.

Answer: Magnets lose their property when heated, hammered or dropped from a height.

Magnet: An object which attracts magnetic materials; like iron, cobalt and nickel; is called magnet. Natural Magnet: Magnet which is found naturally is called natural magnet. Artificial Magnet: Magnet which is made by humans is called artificial magnet.

Two properties of a magnet are: (i) A magnet always has two poles: a north pole and south pole. (ii) Like magnetic poles repel each other and unlike magnetic poles attract each other.

Properties of Magnets A magnet attracts magnetic materials towards itself. A freely suspended bar magnet always aligns in the north-south direction. Unlike poles attract each other and like poles repel each other. A magnet with a single pole does not exist.

Some would claim that there is only one right-hand rule, but I have found the convention of three separate rules for the most common situations to be very convenient. These are for (1) long, straight wires, (2) free moving charges in magnetic fields, and (3) the solenoid rule – which are loops of current.

They are:

• Attractive Property – Magnet attracts ferromagnetic materials like iron, cobalt, and nickel.
• Repulsive Properties – Like magnetic poles repel each other and unlike magnetic poles attract each other.
• Directive Property – A freely suspended magnet always points in a north-south direction.

The strongest permanent magnets in the world are neodymium (Nd) magnets, they are made from magnetic material made from an alloy of neodymium, iron and boron to form the Nd2Fe14B structure.

Permanent magnets can lose their magnetism if they are dropped or banged on enough to bump their domains out of alignment. The reason that would be hard to bump a piece of iron and make it magnetic is because of the way vibrations propagate in the material.

The way in which an atom looses power is when the atoms come out of alignment. This can happen when a magnet is dropped. Therefore, a magnet will not ever loose its power unless it is dropped or experiences some other force which misaligns the atoms.

Demagnetisation is a slow process but magnets can lose their strength over time. This generally happens in two ways. So-called permanent magnets are constructed from materials made up of magnetic domains, in which atoms have electrons whose spins are aligned with each other.

Certain magnets are more susceptible to this effect, such as Alnico. The exception to this is traumas that cause damage to the structure of the magnet. Cracks, chipping, breaking and erosion all equal a decrease in the mass of the magnetized material, and reduction in force.