Someone please educate me. If nickel is considered a non ferrous metal, then why does a magnet stick to it? As an example, the Canadian mint says that a 1975 25 cent coin is pure nickel but it sticks to the magnet. The loonie sticks also.
I am no expert on the magnetism of metals, but I do know that most Canadian coins made today are steel coated with nickel. Not sure about the loonie, but maybe it is steel coated with a brass alloy.
All metals are at least weakly magnetic. Copper is the most magnetic of the weakly magnetic metals. Iron and nickel are the only two strongly magnetic metals with pure nickel being nearly as magnetic as iron. Even a small amount of alloy in nickel will cause it to lose its magnetic properties. Ironically stainless steel, which is largely a mixture of iron and nickel, is usually not magnetic.
Thanks guys. JBK, I believe that after 2000 all Canada coins below the dollar have steel cores. The loonie is a thin pure nickel core plated with a thick layer of aureate brass. Im wondering if in the science world if nickel is like a branch off of iron. Oh well who knows hehheh. As long as my silvers dont stick I wont worry about it LOL!!
Nickel is non ferrous because ferrous means iron. Hence the symbol Fe for iron. Nickel does not contain iron and is therefore not ferrous. Ferrous does not mean magnetic. The two other strongly magnetic metals are Nickel (Ni) and Cobalt (Co). Cobalt ain't one you'll come across often cos it's pretty rare and is a bluish silver metal.
Thanks a bunch Sylvester. That is the answer I was looking for. By the way, my drill bits and lathe cutting tools are cobalt but I know it only as "good stuff" hehheh.
