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Live-Goose7887 t1_ius21bj wrote

It just depends on whether the metal ion's spin state changes when it is aquated. Aqueous manganese(ii) [Mn(H20)6]2+ does remain paramagnetic in solution. I don't understand how the experiment you ran was supposed to detect this though.

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cmlynarski OP t1_iut2bia wrote

Thank you kindly for the reply!

The line of thinking was basically that if we apply a strong enough magnetic source (a field from a bar magnet) that any paramagnetic material would exhibit displacement. My understanding is that only a fraction of the paramagnetic material's electrons (those with the correct spin direction) will show magnetic behaviour, but my assumption was that the fraction would be greater than zero, and would therefore be observable.

Perhaps there is a little more nuance that I'm missing here. Feel free to let me know if you see an error with this assumption or any additional thoughts - it's appreciated.

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Live-Goose7887 t1_iut4xkw wrote

I'm just trying to mentally picture the experiment. Were you hanging a bar magnet from a string and measuring whether it was deflected toward the sample? Or were you pressing the magnet against the container and trying to see if the solution itself was visibly deflected?

While the manganese ions themselves do remain paramagnetic in solution, the chloride ions and more importantly the water itself are diamagnetic. I doubt you could make a solution concentrated enough to see visible deflection of a bar magnet.

There are a few direct ways to measure magnetic moments like using a Guoy balance, an Evans balance, or the Evans NMR method.

Do you mind if I ask loosely why you're interested in it?

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newappeal t1_iuw9yvs wrote

>It just depends on whether the metal ion's spin state changes when it is aquated

How might this occur? Are there ionic species that actually form new molecular orbitals with water in solution?

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