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Principles of magnetism
Materials are made up of atoms, and these are made up of elementary particles, as are electrons rotating around the nucleus of protons and neutrons.
Each electron is, by its very nature, a small magnet. Ordinarily, innumerable electrons of a material are randomly oriented in different directions, but in a magnet, almost all the electrons tend to be oriented in the same direction, creating a large or small magnetic force, depending on the number of electrons that are oriented.
Besides the electron's intrinsic magnetic field, sometimes it is also necessary to take into account the magnetic field caused by the orbital movement of the electron around the nucleus. This effect is analogue to the field generated by an electrical current that circulates around a coil. In general, the movement of the electrons does not provoke a magnetic field in the material, but under certain conditions, the movements can line up and produce a measurable magnetic field.
Therefore, the magnetic behaviour of a material depends on the material's structure and particularly on the electronic configuration.