What Does Diamagnetic Mean?

Diamagnetic is a word used to refer to any substance that is repelled by magnets. It is a descriptive term that indicates that a particular substance does not contain any unpaired electrons and thus is not attracted or remains unaffected by a magnetic field.

In chemistry NH3 (Ammonia) is an example of a substance that is a diamagnetic. Other substances that are diamagnetic include antimony, gold, sodium chloride, bismuth and mercury.

Diamagnetic is basically a word that defines something in terms of exhibiting or relating to diamagnetism.

S.J. Brugmans was the first person, way back in 1778, to observe that antimony and bismuth (the strongest diamagnetic material) both were repelled by magnetic fields. The term "diamagnetism" was however not coined by him but by Michael Faraday in 1845. He had observed that in nature all materials possessed some sort of diamagnetic properties.