Ranowa

Ahh. That distinction seems like something that original source should've mentioned I'm assuming I won't need a good understanding of diamagnetism for my joke of an introductory physics course! Was I correct in my original guess that the virtual photons are responsible for the magnetic force,or was that a little off as well?

In the first thing that I read, it said electron spin and angular momentum on a quantum level only apply on paramagnetism, though- that we've managed to use He nuclei to prove that magnetic fields still can arise without electron spin. Was this incorrect?

I'm pretty sure I'm going way more indepth into this topic than I need to (I'm a pre med, neurosci major) but the way I've always understood concepts that troubled me was going to the quantum level. I'm trying to do the same with this. I read a previous thread on these forums on the matter, as well as a few other papers, and basically what I'm going after is conformation that I'm thinking about this correctly. So: We don't yet have a thorough understanding of what exactly magnetism is. The best way to explain it seems to be the idea of virtual photons being emitted from electrons caught within a magnet's range of influence, or field. The field is infinite, but its effects become so minute over increasing distance that they are negligible in most circumstances. The path of the virtual photons is identical to the direction of the magnetic force, indicating that the virtual photons are the reason there is a force at all. I haven't seen anyone really explain, though, what actually a magnet is- why that block of iron can cause these virtual photons to come into existence whereas my physics textbook just sits there like a lump. Is this something we don't know yet?