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For example, if there were a neodymium magnet at position x=0, a sheet of stainless steel at position x=1, and a magnetic object at x=5, would the magnet still attract the object?

Is the attraction force less than if the stainless steel sheet were absent?

Would a thicker sheet of stainless steel dampen the attraction force?

  • I think that the metal sheet might in fact enhance the magnetic field of the magnet, each of its dipoles aligning itself with the original B-field. – zh1 Mar 18 '18 at 22:41
  • @zhutchens1 I would agree, except for the fact that aligning dipoles requires force which weakens the original magnet. (Blame entropy not me), and that stainless steel is nonmagnetic. –  Mar 18 '18 at 22:42

2 Answers2

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Most stainless steel is austenitic alloys of iron, which is not ferromagnetic. In practice, there are always some other phases, and that will results in a relative magnetic permeability that is a bit larger than unity. This will result in a force that is slightly less than if one had wood instead of stainless steel. But the difference is small and may be difficult to notice.

  • Experimental evidence https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60238645/ – Martin Beckett Mar 19 '18 at 01:22
  • @MartinBeckett Knives are made of different alloys (numbers in the 400 range) than for example the kitchen sink (numbers in the 300 range, austenitic alloys that cannot be made hard by heat treatment). –  Mar 19 '18 at 07:26
  • @MartinBeckett I can't decode that evidence, I've lost the hex tool that came in the packaging :) – Selene Routley Mar 19 '18 at 11:30
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    @Pieter - my point was that the stainless rail is permeable to the magnets mounted on the back. Although because the stainless itself isn't magnetic the knives only stick directly over the magnets. – Martin Beckett Mar 19 '18 at 15:18
  • @MartinBeckett Ah, now I understand. (I had lost a hex tool somewhere.) –  Mar 19 '18 at 19:06
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A simple physical argument should be whether the magnetic field will be able to polarize that medium in between. If that is possible then field intensity will be transported through polarization.

Gourav
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  • No. When the iron gets magnetized, it screens the field. That is what mu-metal is for. –  Mar 19 '18 at 19:07