Magnetite is one of the very few minerals that is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted by a magnet as shown hereUnit cell of magnetite. The gray spheres are oxygen, green are divalent iron, blue are trivalent iron. Also shown are an iron atom in an octahedral space (light blue) and another in a tetrahedral space (gray).
Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe2+Fe3+2O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic;[6] it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself.[7][8] With the exception of extremely rare native iron deposits, it is the most magnetic of all the naturally occurring minerals on Earth.[7][9] Naturally magnetized pieces of magnetite, called lodestone, will attract small pieces of iron, which is how ancient peoples first discovered the property of magnetism.[10]
^Anthony, John W.; Bideaux, Richard A.; Bladh, Kenneth W. "Magnetite"(PDF). Handbook of Mineralogy. Chantilly, VA: Mineralogical Society of America. p. 333. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
^"Magnetite". mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
^Barthelmy, Dave. "Magnetite Mineral Data". Mineralogy Database. webmineral.com. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
^Jacobsen, S.D.; Reichmann, H.J.; Kantor, A.; Spetzler, H.A. (2005). "A gigahertz ultrasonic interferometer for the diamond anvil cell and high-pressure elasticity of some iron-oxide minerals". In Chen, J.; Duffy, T.S.; Dobrzhinetskaya, L.F.; Wang, Y.; Shen, G. (eds.). Advances in High-Pressure Technology for Geophysical Applications. Elsevier Science. pp. 25–48. doi:10.1016/B978-044451979-5.50004-1. ISBN978-0-444-51979-5.
^Nesse, William D. (2000). Introduction to mineralogy. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 361. ISBN9780195106916.
^Morel, Mauricio; Martínez, Francisco; Mosquera, Edgar (October 2013). "Synthesis and characterization of magnetite nanoparticles from mineral magnetite". Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials. 343: 76–81. Bibcode:2013JMMM..343...76M. doi:10.1016/j.jmmm.2013.04.075.