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Scientists who discovered a third form of magnetism win major physics prize (www.sciencedaily.com)
submitted 6 days ago by to c/science@lemmy.world
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Physicists have uncovered a hidden third form of magnetism that challenges more than 100 years of established physics. Called altermagnetism, the discovery could transform future computing and electronics while opening an entirely new frontier in quantum research.

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[–] 3 points 5 days ago* (2 children)

I want to understand this but I am not well educated here. So forgive my question, all I know about magnets is that opposite poles attract. Usually its called north pole and south pole or something, positive and negative poles.

Is that what is being called Antiferromagnets and Ferromagnets?

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  • [–] 2 points 4 days ago

    Ferromagnets have many molecule level magnets which align poles with other fields and antiferromagnets have opposing molecular magnets which cause all magnetic interaction to cancel out to zero.

    So they're names of pole alignment types.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 days ago

    Not quite. Best I can gather is the material is different (ferrous material implies iron, but I think this describes the behavior, not the constituent parts).

    I think that’s right, but maybe I’m annoingly wrong enough to elicite a smarter person to correct me 🫣

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