I found a Canadian dime in my change, and searched for info about it on Canadian coin sites. Weight is supposed to be 2.07 gr. and the composition is 100 % nickel. Also states the coin is magnetic. My dime weighs 2.09 so am good there. It is also magnetic. How can it be magnetic if 100 % nickel ? The nickel ore is not magnetic. Our coins with nickel are not magnetic. What gives ? thnx
I did a brief internet search and found this...Not sure if it helps or not... Dime (Canadian coin) - Wikipedia
100% nickel is very magnetic. When alloyed with copper, as US 5 cent coins have been since they were begun in 1866,they are not magnetic . 80% copper, 20% nickel, 5 grams weight total
Nickel is not only magnetic, it is ferromagnetic. The ferro- part kind of means iron, but it also means very magnetic.
As mentioned pure nickel is highly magnetic. When alloyed with other metals it will retain some magnetic attraction until the other metal reaches somewhere around 11% of the composition then it loses its magnetic properties. Out copper nickel coins are 75% copper and 75% is much greater than 11%, so our coins aren't magnetic.