paramagnetic Bussard scoop

[Vultur]

Ok, this is probably dumb/unworkable, but it sounds kind of reasonable.

So I was reading about paramagnetic oxygen analyzers (where a magnetic field is used to draw in paramagnetic oxygen, and the resulting air current spins a 'dumbbell'), and it got me thinking ... I've seen various references to part of the impracticality of a Bussard interstellar ramjet being that the interstellar medium is mostly not ionized, so can't be collected with magnetic fields unless it's ionized first.

But as far as I can tell, the non-ionized component in our local interstellar medium (not in molecular clouds) is mostly atomic hydrogen, not H2. And atomic hydrogen is paramagnetic. So couldn't it be drawn into a magnetic field, in the same way oxygen is?

(Since H2 is not paramagnetic, you'd need to stay out of molecular clouds. But the Solar System isn't in one.)

I was having trouble finding good numbers for the magnetic susceptibility of atomic hydrogen though. Maybe it's really weakly paramagnetic?

[Paul451]

(Since H2 is not paramagnetic, you'd need to stay out of molecular clouds.

I assume molecular clouds still have neutral atomic hydrogen, though? Presumably at higher levels than the ISM. Just not as dense as the molecular hydrogen.