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Why are paramagnetic materials weakly attracted to magnets?

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Diagram showing a circular loop of wire with an electric current, surrounded by curved blue lines representing magnetic field lines that loop around the wire and pass through its center. — magnetism Some lines of the magnetic field B (blue) for an electric current I (gold) in a loop.

Paramagnetic materials are weakly attracted to magnets because they contain atoms with unpaired electrons that possess a magnetic dipole moment, effectively acting as tiny bar magnets.123

In the absence of an external magnetic field, these atomic dipoles are oriented randomly due to thermal motion, resulting in no net magnetization. When an external field is applied, these dipoles tend to align with the field, which creates a net positive magnetization in the same direction as the applied field. This alignment enhances the external field, leading to a weak attraction.132

The attraction remains weak because thermal energy constantly works to disorder the alignment of these dipoles, preventing the strong, permanent magnetization seen in ferromagnetic materials. Consequently, paramagnetism exists only while an external field is present, and the material's susceptibility is relatively low.123