Assertion (A): Sodium gets weakly attracted to a magnet.
Reason (R): Sodium is a paramagnet.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
(A) Sodium gets weakly attracted to a magnet. — True. In a non-uniform field a piece of sodium moves slowly from the weaker part of the field towards the stronger part. So it moves towards the magnet.
(R) Sodium is a paramagnet. — True. Sodium is a paramagnetic material, along with aluminium, calcium and oxygen (at STP). Its susceptibility is small and positive.
Why R explains A?
The atoms of a paramagnet carry permanent magnetic dipole moments. An external field lines them up partly along itself, so the material gets weakly magnetised in the direction of the field.
A sample magnetised along the field tends to move from a weak field to a strong field. So a paramagnet such as sodium is weakly attracted to a magnet.
NCERT (2026-27):
Paramagnetism – “Paramagnetic substances are those which get weakly magnetised when placed in an external magnetic field. They have tendency to move from a region of weak magnetic field to strong magnetic field, i.e., they get weakly attracted to a magnet.”
Paramagnetism – “Some paramagnetic materials are aluminium, sodium, calcium, oxygen (at STP) and copper chloride.”