paramagneticadj.n.

1845 W. Whewell Let. c10 Dec. in M. Faraday Corr. (1996) III. 442 I think you ought to have said diamagnetic; for the bodies through (dia) which electricity goes would have been called diaelectric, but that vowels in such cases coalesce. I think you may keep diamagnetic for this class, and give to the opposite class a name implying that they rank along with magnetic bodies. I propose paramagnetic.

1851 M. Faraday in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 141 26 As the magnetism of iron, nickel, and cobalt, when in the magnetic field, is like that of the earth as a whole, so that when rendered active they place themselves parallel to its axis or lines of magnetic force, I have supposed that they and their similars (including oxygen now) might be called paramagnetic bodies, giving the following division:—Magnetic: (1) Paramagnetic, (2) Diamagnetic.

1855 M. F. Maury Physical Geogr. Sea (1858) vi. §376 Faraday has shown that, as the temperature of oxygen is raised, its paramagnetic force diminishes, being resumed as the temperature falls again.

1895 N. Story-Maskelyne Crystallogr. i. §13 Unmagnetised bodies if brought near a magnetic pole are either attracted or repelled by it, and are said to be magnetised by induction; being described in the former case as paramagnetic and as diamagnetic in the latter case.

1896 E. Atkinson tr. H. du Bois Magn. Circuit i. 9 By many authors the terms ‘ferromagnetic’ and ‘paramagnetic’ are used pretty indiscriminately. For the present it may be as well to keep the two groups separate.

1903 Proc. Royal Soc. 1902–3 71 239 The law of Curie, that the susceptibility of weak paramagnetic substances is inversely proportional to the absolute temperature.

1931 S. R. Williams Magn. Phenomena v. 159 Oxygen, palladium, air, glass, porcelain, and FeSO₄ were some of the paramagnetic bodies studied by Curie.

1958 N. Cusack Electr. & Magn. Prop. Solids xii. 269 At a critical temperature, called the Curie point.., ferromagnetic matter undergoes a phase transition and becomes paramagnetic.

1994 M. B. McBride Environmental Chem. Soils x. 384 The ground state O₂ molecule is paramagnetic (has unpaired electrons) so that its reaction with the diamagnetic (no unpaired electrons) benzidine molecule is spin forbidden.

1845 W. Whewell Let. c10 Dec. in M. Faraday Corr. (1996) III. 442 Will it not do to talk of iron, nickel &c. as paramagnetics and glass, phosphorus &c. as diamagnetics?

1851 M. Faraday in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 141 33 This result can be produced by much weaker paramagnetics than iron.

1911 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 324/1 Between the ferromagnetics and the paramagnetics there is an enormous gap.

1914 J. H. Poynting & J. J. Thomson Text-bk. Physics xvi. 207 Though Faraday only used the two classes, paramagnetics and diamagnetics, and to one or other of these referred all bodies, it is usual now to separate out the three metals iron, nickel, and cobalt, and to these may probably be added manganese, and to class them as Ferromagnetics.

1966 C. R. Tottle Sci. Engin. Materials vi. 134 Below a certain critical temperature these elements [sc. iron, cobalt, and nickel] remain permanently magnetized after removal of the external field... Above it, the materials behave as normal paramagnetics.

1994 Science 22 Apr. 511/2 A mixture of iron and gadolinium-gallium-garnet..has proven three to four times as efficient as current paramagnetics for cooling at 15 K.

1859 Philos. Trans. 1858 (Royal Soc.) 148 555 The resulting action exerted..on the given paramagnetically induced ellipsoid.

1883 Encycl. Brit. XV. 248/2 By virtue of differential action, a body may behave paramagnetically or diamagnetically according as it is placed in a less or in a more permeable medium than itself.

1995 Science 9 June 1491/2 Evidence..could be obtained by paramagnetically shifted proton resonances in nuclear magnetic resonance studies.