What material disables magnet?

Question

I remeber in school they told us:
"If you put a paper between two magnets, you see them still attract each other"

But then, they showed us a material which if you put between two magnets, it desables the magnetic field and the magnets just fall away.

Any idea which is this material

Answer 1

This unit describes the process:

http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?prssweb=Search&ei=UTF-8&p=school+%2B+science+%2B+experiments+%2B+disabling+magnets&fr=ks-ans&u=www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/sofweb/science/sampleprogram/EARLY/modse/magnets/index.htm&w=school+science+experiments+disabling+magnets&d=Ij9Z80VuN4GU&icp=1&.intl=us

I went to a different school, but we had the same demonstration. Our teacher gave us a list of materials that could disable magnets. The ones I remember including stainless steel, copper, brass, aluminum, lead, tin, but I think there were others as well. I think he actually used brass, but I can't remember for sure.

Answer 2

There is no material that disables a magnetic field, per se. You can put any number of materials between two magnets and cause the two magnets not to attract to each other or the materials, but the magnets themselves are still fine. What material and how thick it will need to be will vary, and much of the reaction you get will be premised on the type and power of the magnets. You can see these effects at home using two magnets and aluminum foil and wood. The magnets will not stick to the foil. The magnets will stick together through 1, 2, 3... layers until finally the foil is too thick, and the field no longer can pass through the foil. A stout piece of wood between the two magnets will immediately prevent them from sticking to each other. By the way, the best 'shunt' of magnetic power is actually iron, somewhat ironically.

Answer 3

No material disables a magnetic field.
A material with good ferromagnetic properties can be used to effectively shield the magnetic field by rerouting the magnetic lines through the material instead of the surrounding area.

Unlike electricity where the potential poles can be separated - a material can be positively charged or negatively charged - there is no such thing as a mono-pole magnet. The north pole must always be part of and return to the south pole.
For more detailed information on this phenomenon, check out the site below:

http://www.physlink.com/education/AskExperts/ae512.cfm

Answer 4

Aluminium Metal PLate - we did the same experiment