Why does heating a magnet make it less magnetized?

[sams123]

I'm talking about how like the atoms expand and the electrons get farther away from the nucleus. This might be a stupid question but how does that make it less magnetic? Like what do the electrons being farther away have to do with how strong the magnet is?

 

[DaveC426913]

That's not what heating a magnet does. Electrons don't move farther away from the nucleus. They are in distinct orbitals, and the only way they can move away is via excitement and making quantum leaps to higher orbitals.

This is what heating does to magnets. The left image represents a heated magnet, the right, a cool magnet.

 

[mathman]

Note that after heating, cooling down will not restore magnetic properties, if left alone.