# @stem_antics on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DVW-Uoakl6v
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/61935841-stem-antics-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/36465a404b.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-03-01T22:43:33.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Stem Antics (@stem_antics) — https://gondola.cc/stem_antics

## Caption

In its normal state, aluminum is paramagnetic. That means it does not have permanent magnetic domains like iron, cobalt, or nickel. Its atoms do respond weakly to an external magnetic field, but the effect is tiny and disappears as soon as the field is removed.

So why does aluminum behave like a magnet inside an electric motor?

The key is moving charges.

When aluminum moves through a magnetic field — or when a magnetic field changes around it — electric currents are induced inside the metal. This is Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction. Because aluminum is a good electrical conductor, those induced currents (called eddy currents) flow easily.

Those currents create their own magnetic field. And according to Lenz’s law, that induced field opposes the change that created it.

That’s when aluminum starts to act “magnetic.”

In an induction motor:

• The stator creates a rotating magnetic field
• The aluminum rotor sits inside that changing field
• The changing field induces currents in the rotor bars
• Those currents generate their own magnetic field
• The interaction between the two fields produces torque

The aluminum itself is not ferromagnetic. It does not become a permanent magnet. Instead, it becomes electromagnetically active because of induced current flow.

This is why many induction motors use aluminum rotor cages. They are lightweight, conductive, inexpensive, and ideal for generating induced currents.

Aluminum also shows strong magnetic behavior when:

• Dropping a magnet through an aluminum tube (magnetic braking)
• Magnetic levitation demonstrations with spinning magnets
• Induction heating systems
• High-speed rotating magnetic fields

In all cases, the “magnetism” is not from atomic alignment. It is from electrical conductivity interacting with changing magnetic flux.

#stemantics #STEMeducation #PhysicsExplained #Electromagnetism #ElectricMotor

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## Tags

physicsexplained, electromagnetism, stemeducation, electricmotor, stemantics

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