Is Magnetite the “Stone from Heaven”, the “Foundation Stone”, the “Grail Stone”, the “Hidden Stone” or the “Black Sun"?
Magnetites
As a magnetic material Magnetite is unique among minerals for its great magnetic susceptibility, approximately one-third that of soft iron
Some magnetites are permanent magnets, or lodestones.
Magnetites can be either inorganic magnets or biomagnets.
Magnetite is ferroelectric.
All ferroelectric crystals are simultaneously pyroelectric and piezoelectric as well.
Ferroelectricity is often referred to as the electrical analog of ferromagnetism.
Ferroelectrics are commonly antiferromagnetic, rarely ferromagnetic.
In order to exhibit spontaneous polarization, whether piezoelectric, pyroelectric, or ferroelectric, the electric charge must not be centered within the crystal lattice.
Piezoelectric Crystals
http://www.applied-piezo.com/about-piez ... c-crystals
Piezoelectric ceramics can be divided into single crystals and polycrystalline ceramics, the latter being composed of a collection of many small crystals. The term “piezoelectric ceramics” usually refers to polycrystalline ceramics only. Single crystal piezoelectric ceramics are simply referred to as ‘piezoelectric crystals’.
According to the rotational symmetry, crystalline materials can be divided into 32 crystal classes:
21 of these classes lack a center of symmetry;
20 of the non-centrosymmetric crystal classes show piezoelectricity;
10 of the piezoelectric crystal classes show pyroelectricity;
Pyroelectric material may be ferroelectric.
Pyroelectricity
Of the twenty piezoelectric crystal classes, ten classes exhibit spontaneous polarisation: even in the absence of mechanical stress or an electric field, the centres of positive and negative charge do not coincide, giving rise to a built-in electric dipole in each unit cell. The crystal classes with spontaneous polarisation are said to be pyroelectric.
The pyroelectric effect, i.e., the generation of charge due to a change in temperature, is nothing but a manifestation of the temperature coefficient of the polarisation.
Ferroelectricity
The direction of polarisation of some pyroelectric materials can be changed by applying a sufficiently large electric field. If this is the case, the material is also said to be ferroelectric.
Ferroelectricity implies pyroelectricity, but the converse does not hold. In analogy to ferromagnetic materials, ferroelectric materials are inherently hysteretic, i.e., the polarisation not only depends on the current value of the electric field, but also on its history.
Unlike piezoelectricity and pyroelectricity, knowledge of the crystal class is not sufficient to establish ferroelectricity. To that end dielectric measurements are required.
Classes of Magnetic Materials
http://www.irm.umn.edu/hg2m/hg2m_b/hg2m_b.html
Ferromagnetism
When you think of magnetic materials, you probably think of iron, nickel or magnetite. Unlike paramagnetic materials, the atomic moments in these materials exhibit very strong interactions. These interactions are produced by electronic exchange forces and result in a parallel or antiparallel alignment of atomic moments.
Ferrimagnetism
In ionic compounds, such as oxides, more complex forms of magnetic ordering can occur as a result of the crystal structure. One type of magnetic ordering is call ferrimagnetism. A simple representation of the magnetic spins in a ferrimagnetic oxide.
Ferroelectricity
http://www.iue.tuwien.ac.at/phd/dragosits/node12.html
It has become common knowledge that there are materials with a permanent magnetic moment. The fact is there is a similar phenomenon for the electric moment as well.
Ferroelectricity in Ore Minerals
http://corry.ws/CorryBook-5.htm
The most common ore mineral that people see is iron sulfide, FeS 2, or fool's gold. Another very common ore mineral is pyrrhotite, another iron sulfide, Fe 1-x S. In doing geophysical exploration for ore bodies, it is those two minerals that are most commonly found. Other sulfides are also commonly found in association with the iron sulfides, and most of our copper, lead, zinc, cobalt, and other base metals come from such ore bodies.
It is also possible to predict other ore minerals that may be ferroelectric by extrapolation from known characteristics. Crystals with the same space group as a known ferroelectric commonly also prove to be ferroelectric. Other characteristics, such as optical anisotropy, known structural phase changes, etc., are also indicative of possible ferroelectricity.
Ferroelectric materials have a spontaneous electric polarization in the absence of an applied field that can be reversed by application of a potential field.
All ferroelectric crystals are simultaneously pyroelectric and piezoelectric as well. However, the converse is not necessarily true. Crystals may be piezoelectric without being pyroelectric, or piezoelectric and pyroelectric but not ferroelectric.
In order to exhibit spontaneous polarization, whether piezoelectric, pyroelectric, or ferroelectric, the electric charge must not be centered within the crystal lattice.
Ferroelectricity is often referred to as the electrical analog of ferromagnetism.
Ferroelectrics exhibit hysteresis when polarized by an electric field and form polarization domains within a crystal in the same fashion as ferromagnetic minerals. The electrical domains are frequently characterized by twinning in the crystal. As with piezoelectric and pyroelectric minerals, ferroelectric minerals may also exhibit a surface charge.
An electrical transition from a ferroelectric state to either a paraelectric state or another ferroelectric phase occurs at some critical temperature called the Curie temperature, T c. Transition to the paraelectric state is normally associated with a phase change to a centrosymmetric crystal structure.
Minerals may be antiferroelectric, rather than ferroelectric.
All polar dielectrics exhibit directional polarization when an external electric field is applied.
Why is Magnetite Magnetic
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~smith213/ma.htm
Magnetite, (Fe3O4), has 4/3 or 1 and 1/3 atoms of oxygen (O) for every atom of iron (Fe). Also called lodestone, magnetite is a natural ferrite. All ferrites exhibit strong magnetic properties and are hard, brittle ceramic-like materials.
Magnetite is composed of iron atoms in two different states, one atom with a valence of +2 (Fe++ or ferrous iron) and two atoms with a valence of +3 (Fe+++ or ferric iron). A valence number is usually the number of outer electrons, which are those in the outermost and highest energy band. Further, the valence indicates the number of negatively charged electrons that are available for ideal sharing (i.e. bonding) with other atoms and can be either – for a surplus or + for a deficiency.
In magnetite, the magnetic dipoles of the two Fe+++ atoms are pointed oppositely and cancel each other. However, the magnetic dipole of the Fe++ atom tends to align with many adjacent dipoles of other Fe++ atoms throughout the mineral by the same interaction mentioned previously, and this parallel alignment of many atomic dipoles produces a bulk magnetism called ferrimagnetism.
Magnetite
http://geology.about.com/od/minerals/ig ... netite.htm
Magnetite is the only mineral that exhibits strong magnetism, although others like ilmenite, chromite and hematite may have weakly magnetic behavior. Magnetite has a Mohs hardness of about 6 and a black streak. Most magnetite occurs in very small grains. A chunk of well-crystallized magnetite like the round specimen is called a lodestone. Magnetite also occurs in well-formed octahedral crystals like the one shown.
Magnetite
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-magnetite.htm
Magnetite is a type of iron oxide with natural magnetic properties. In fact, it is the most magnetic naturally occurring mineral on Earth and was once used in compasses. The chemical name of magnetite is ferrous-ferric oxide, and its chemical formula is Fe3O4.
In addition to geological formations, magnetite is found in small quantities in certain bacteria and animals. Chitons, a type of mollusk, have magnetite crystals on their radula, a scraping appendage used to eat. These crystals make the radula very abrasive, allowing chitons to scrape food from rocks.
Magnetite naturally occurs in the brains of some birds and insects, notably bees, and even in humans. It is hypothesized to allow for a sense called magnetoreception or magnetoception, through which the animals in question have a natural sense of direction. Biomagnetism may allow animals to sense the magnetic field of the Earth, much as a compass uses magnetism to indicate the cardinal directions. For example, magnetite crystals in the brains of certain birds may help trigger and direct their migratory flight when the seasons change.
MAGNETITE/LODESTONE
http://www.topstones.co.za/unusual.html
Magnetite is a black oxide of iron in the spinel group and is also known in the gemstone trade as lodestone. The colour range includes iron black and pale brown and the stone is strongly magnetic.
It is found both in dark octahedral crystals and in amorphous lumps and can be attracted by a magnet from surrounding rubble. It is said that in 2634 BC the Chinese emperor Huang-ti constructed a compass with the aid of magnetite, and in twelfth century Europe the Vikings were using it for magnetic needles.
Because of its magnetic power it has been called the "Hercules stone". In days past it was particularly popular with men who used it to retain and strengthen virility.
Physical Properties of Magnetite
http://www.onemine.org/search/summary.c ... 0921659074
Among naturally occurring inorganic compounds, magnetite has many unusual and interesting properties. As a magnetic material Magnetite is unique among minerals for its great magnetic susceptibility, approximately one-third that of soft iron, and some magnetites are permanent magnets, or lodestones.
Verwey transition in magnetite (Fe3O4), unveiled ?
http://www.lps.u-psud.fr/IMG/pdf_Lorenz ... 2008_3.pdf
Magnetite is ferroelectric at low T
Magnetite is multiferroic at low T
Charge ordering and ferroelectricity in magnetite
http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/MAR07/Event/56530
Magnetite Fe3O4 is one of the most fascinating materials in solid state physics. Besides being the first magnetic material known to the mankind, it is also the first example of an insulator-metal transition in transition metal oxides -- the famous Verwey transition.
One usually connects this transition with the charge ordering of Fe3O4 {2+} and FeO4{3+}. However the detailed pattern of CO in Fe3O4 is still a matter of debate.
Another aspect, which is not so widely known and which did not yet receive sufficient attention, is that below T c , besides being completely spin polarised, magnetite apparently is also ferroelectric (FE).
Thus it seems that magnetite, besides being the first magnetic material and the first transition metal oxide with an insulator-metal transition, is also the first multiferroic material.
Multiferroic Materials
http://shell.cas.usf.edu/fml/multiferroic.html
Multiferroics are materials in which at least two of the ferroelectric, ferro/antiferromagnetic and ferroelastic phases coexist.
Though the mechanisms that allow ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism seem to be incompatible, there are a select few materials in which ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism are both present, namely Cr2O3, yttrium- iron-garnets, boracites, rare-earth ferrites and manganese-based perovskites. In these materials, the ferroelectric and ferro/antiferromagnetic phases are coupled in such as way as to produce a cross phenomenon known as the magnetoelectric (ME) effect. This allows manipulation of the magnetic phase with an external electric field and/or manipulation of the electric phase with external magnetic field. The integration of the ME effect into device technology would have substantial implications, however the above mentioned single phase materials exhibit prohibitively small ME effect.
New magnetic recording technology uses magneto-electric effect
http://www.physorg.com/news107681961.html
The scientists based their read head design on the magneto-electric (ME) effect instead of the magneto-resistance (MR) effect.
ME is often displayed in multiferroic materials—a special class of materials exhibiting multiple ferroic properties (such as ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism, or ferroelasticity). In ME, the electric and magnetic fields are coupled, which facilitates the conversion between energies stored in magnetic and electric fields.
Iron Corrosion Products
http://corrosion-doctors.org/Experiment ... oducts.htm
Only Iron and steel will rust. Other metals corrode. Rusting is an oxidation process. What we normally call rust is a flaky red-brown solid which is largely hydrated iron. The primary corrosion product of iron is Fe(OH)2 (or more likely FeO.nH2O), but the action of oxygen and water can yield other products having different colors:
Fe2O3.H2O (hydrous ferrous oxide, sometimes written as Fe(OH)3) is the principal component of red-brown rust. It can form a mineral called hematite.
Fe3O4.H2O ("hydrated magnetite" or ferrous ferrite, Fe2O3.FeO) is most often green but can be deep blue in the presence of organic complexants.
Fe3O4 ("magnetite") is black.
Biomagnetism
http://www.affs.org/html/biomagnetism.html
Magnetite is a black mineral form of iron oxide that crystallizes in the cubic or isometric system, namely all crystals which have their crystallographic axes of equal length at 90 degrees to each other. It is a mixed Iron (II) Iron (III) oxide, Fe3O4, and is one of the major ores of iron that is strongly magnetic. Some varieties, known as lodestone, are natural magnets; these were used as compasses in the ancient world.
All the magnetite crystals that have been examined to date are single magnetic domains, which mean that they are uniformly and stably magnetized and have the maximum magnetic moment per unit volume possible for magnetite.
Ferromagnetic crystals interact more than a million times more strongly with external magnetic fields than do diamagnetic or paramagnetic materials.
We have also seen in research done in the late 1980s that proteins, DNA, and transforming DNA function as piezoelectric crystal lattice structures in nature. The piezoelectric effect refers to that property of matter which may convert electromagnetic oscillations to mechanical vibrations and vice versa.
On flexing, this ultra thin crystal becomes a piezoelectric oscillator, producing a circular polarized light pulse that travels throughout the body, or travels as a transverse photonic bundle of energy.
The Bioelectronic Basis for "Healing Energies": Charge and Field Effects
as a Basis for Complementary Medical Techniques
http://www.emergentmind.org/Roffey06.htm
Biological systems have been shown to be piezoelectric, semiconductive and ferromagnetic in nature. It is reasonable to postulate the existence of some intermediate layer between the internal and external environment in living systems, which somehow processes and transmits signals. It is as if the system and its environment were intimately related, possibly through charge and field effects and induced internal processes which control system sensitivities as they receive surrounding electromagnetic signals.
The Effects of Magnetite, Magnetic Water and Magnetic Monopoles on Plant Growth
http://www.subtleenergies.com/ormus/tw/magnetite.htm
We know that here on Earth we cannot make a magnetic monopole by just breaking a bar magnet in half. When we do this both broken halves instantly develop another magnetic pole opposite to the pole on the other end. Apparently a tremendous amount of energy is needed to separate these magnetic poles. Callahan says this is done by the sun whenever it has solar flares. He says the sun is emitting magnetic dipoles all the time but when there are solar flares and the dipoles go through these solar flares they are exposed to very high temperature energy sources. These magnetic storms are sufficient to break apart these dipoles into monopoles both north and south which continue to radiate out into space and eventually some of them fall to our earth.