Magnetic properties of O 2 adsorbed on Cu(100) were investigated by monitoring the spin dependence in Penning ionization of metastable He(2 3 S) under external magnetic fields of 0-5 T. A clear spin polarization was found for the 3σ g and 1π u orbitals of physisorbed O 2 under external fields, while the spin polarization disappeared when O 2 was changed into the chemisorbed state at >50 K. The magnetic susceptibility at the surface of multilayer and monolayer of physisorbed O 2 on Cu(100) was similar to that for the bulk liquid O 2 . Observed exchange splittings and spin polarization suggest that a physisorbed O 2 molecule has a magnetic moment close to that for an isolated O 2 molecule even at submonolayer coverages, while a density functional theory calculation predicts a much reduced magnetic moment for O 2 directly adsorbed on Cu(100).