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Posted by
Mark Ornoff

why is laser printer toner magnetic?

I had an old toner cartridge lying around, so I took it apart and emptied the toner into a jar. I had heard that one could make a ferromagnetic fluid using toner powder and oil, so I mixed a little powder with some kerosene that I had on hand. Turns out, kerosine does something wierd to the polymer part of the toner, and instead of becoming a solution, the toner powder coagulated into a rubbery mass that had a consistency similar to chewing gum.

When I put a powerful magnet from a hard drive next to it, the ball was attracted to it, which surprised me a little, as I had seen on wikipedia that toner had no magnetic components (any more) So, the questio is, Why is printer toner powder magnetic? Is it because carbon is paramagnetic?

Also, what happened to the polymer when kerosine was added?

EDIT

A clarification- I think the polymer is a resin (based on what the kerosene did to it)