Magnetism

All you need is a couple of hundred Permanent Magnet Linear Generator Buoys bobbing up and down out there in ocean and you can generate enough electricity to power a city.

As the above diagram clearly reveals, an electric coil surrounds a magnetic shaft inside a buoy. The coil moves up and down with the waves around a magnetic shaft anchored to the seafloor. This induces voltage and generates electricity.

The technology is 15-20 years behind wind energy, but is a promising, clean energy source that's more predictable, available and energy-dense than the wind.

The research behind this is led by Annette von Jouanne and Alan Wallace, engineers at Oregon State University.

Find out more here.

Posted by Lodestone at 12:29 PM | Permalink

Following is a slightly edited contribution from Mr Henry Assen who suspects magnetism has something to do with an extraordinary phenomenon he has experienced. Can anyone explain it?

I wish to bring this phenomenon to your attention and request you for an explanation you might have to offer. Please see the annexed photos which might give you an idea of what it involves. These are genuine photos and can be demonstrated in front of you. This method has been employed in curing stress, headaches, migraine, etc... with over 60 % sucess.

It is a couple of years ago that I stumbled upon it. It was on the premises of the Mausoleum in Turkey that I let my thoughts roam through time. I looked at the sun through my dark glasses and concentrated on its energy. My body underwent a strange feeling. Since then I have been carrying out these exercises rather regularly. I discovered a magnetic effect on my forehead which dispelled the gravitational pull.

I would be most grateful if you write to me and offer me a simple explanation. I am glad to demonstrate this to you.

If you can offer an explanation for this baffling occurence, please leave a message below.

Posted by Lodestone at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (25)

New safety concerns have arisen over a toy called Magnetix, a popular toy building set.

The toy is suspected to have played a part in the death of two year old Kenny Sweet. An autopsy revealed two magnets from the toy he'd swallowed had pinched his small intestine shut. As a result bacteria was forced into the bloodstream killing him.

And a five-year-old boy is in serious condition in a Seattle hospital after doctors say he swallowed two small magnets from the toy.

Sad indeed.

Posted by Lodestone at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Later this year, coming to a clinic near you -- shape-memory polymers.

These are materials that transform themselves to a predetermined shape on command. They'll first emerge as products like self-tying sutures, fast-adjusting braces for teeth, and (no doubt) toys and games.

Most of these plastics are activated by direct heat or light. But as the shot below demonstrates, now there's a new way to make them remember their shape... Magnetism.

Andreas Lendlein and colleagues discovered how to incorporate nanoscale particles of magnetite surrounded by a layer of silica into the plastic. An alternating magnetic field interacts with these particles, causing them to heat up and trigger the shape-change.

The sequence of pictures shows how the black polymer strip straightens out as magnetism is applied via the coils.

Wow.

This article speculates how the innovation may eventually lead to artificial muscles or morphing skin on plane wings.

Posted by Lodestone at 01:25 PM | Permalink

Look at the shot below closely and you'll see the double-helix shape of the DNA molecule, the blueprint for life.

But this is a DNA nebula. It's 80 light years long, travelling at 1000 kilometers per second and located near the center of our galaxy.

It doesn't take much to make a DNA nebula. All you need is a very strong magnetic field, a rotating body, and a nebulous cloud of material positioned just right in space.

It's debatable whether you'll be able to replicate the effect with a couple of magnets in your basement.

You can learn a lot more about it here.

Posted by Lodestone at 11:42 AM | Permalink

The town of Magnet in Nebraska USA has been in the media recently.

The big news there is they are producing a calendar featuring male residents in a variety of poses.

Nude.

The March photo is depicted above.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the story is that the reporter managed to completely avoid any magnet puns.

No "attractions" no "repulsions". Nothing.

That's truly amazing. Well done!

Posted by Lodestone at 11:20 AM | Permalink

This guy has found a way for us all to live forever.

Apparently all you have to do is buy stuff from him. And because that stuff has magnets in it, you get eternal life in return.

Or something like that.

The site is mildly amusing but completely wacked out.

Posted by Lodestone at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Magnets in your shoes?

You'd think these would be just great for climbing steel rooftops or scaling the Eiffel Tower.

Actually the magnets in the Adidas Intelligence 1.1 aren't there to help you stick to metal surfaces at all.

No, according to the cobbler, the shoe provides intelligent cushioning by automatically and continuously adjusting itself. It does so by sensing the cushioning level, using a sensor and a magnet.

It then understands whether the cushioning level is too soft or too firm via a small computer. It adapts with a motor-driven cable system to provide the correct cushioning throughout the run.

Scary.

Posted by Lodestone at 04:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

"No magnets, balls, cups or gooey things were harmed in the making of this game."

That's the somewhat bizarre introduction for a rather annoying game based on -- you guessed it -- magnets and a variety of other things.

The image above is entirely irrelevant and was only included because there's not a lot to say about this game really. You have to play it.

Posted by Lodestone at 01:26 PM | Permalink

So there you were looking at the sun (through a dark lens of course) and wondering why it was so smooth. Lack of magnetism is the short answer.

Usually a shot of the sun like the one above will reveal the presence of sunspots.

Sunspots are great pools of magnetism that appear when magnetic force-fields generated by the sun's inner dynamo magnets poke through the surface. These fields block the flow of heat from below, cooling the sun in their vicinity which makes it look dark compared to the surrounding inferno.

Sunspots are in a state of non-stop upheaval. Tangled lines of magnetism twist and stretch until the tension becomes too great and a solar flare explodes. This link between flares and spots is why solar minimum is so quiet.

Sunspots come and go in an 11-year rhythm called the sunspot cycle. At the cycle's peak, solar maximum, the sun is continually peppered with spots, some as big as the planet Jupiter.

But during solar minimum months can go by without a single sunspot.

We're now at the beginning of the minimum. February 2006 was the first month in almost ten years with mostly no sunspots. For 21 of February's 28 days, the sun was blank. This situation is expected to continue for the rest of 2006.

Posted by Lodestone at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

An MRI machine produces a magnetic field between 5,000 and 20,000 gauss (10,000 gauss = 1 tesla). Magnetic fields greater than two tesla are not approved for use in medical imaging.

Compare that with the 0.5-gauss magnetic field of the Earth (the force that pulls compasses around) and you can see how incredibly powerful these magnets are.

In fact the magnetism in an MRI is strong enough to cause scalpels, watches and even beds to fly across a room into its massive field.

The story of a floor polisher being pulled into an MRI even made into newspapers.

But nothing demonstrates that power as graphically as this shot.

Those floor pallets are very heavy. Especially when fully loaded like the one depicted.

Posted by Lodestone at 05:16 AM | Permalink

Are you a magnet or magnetism fan looking for a good reason to visit Minneapolis Minnesota USA?

Well look no further than The Bakken, A Library and Museum of Electricity in Life.

That's right, an entire museum devoted to education and learning that furthers the understanding of the history, cultural context, and applications of electricity and magnetism in the life sciences and their benefits to contemporary society.

Located in a Tudor mansion, it's home to 11,000 rare books and 2,500 scientific instruments relating to electricity and magnetism. It was founded in 1975 by Earl E. Bakken, inventor of the first transistorized cardiac pacemaker.

Spiffy!

Posted by Lodestone at 04:52 AM | Permalink

With a cool name like "displaced vortex states" who really cares what it does.

Anyway, according to this Science Daily story a displaced vortex state is microscopic magnetic state that could lead to superior computer data storage.

It also leads to images like the one below, which is not (though you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise) a close up shot of a fly swatter.

Check out the website for the original press release here.

Whatever will those goofy magnet scientists think of next?

Posted by Lodestone at 09:57 AM | Permalink

According to this horoscope, if you're an Aquarian, tonight you will "draw people in like a magnet".

It's to be hoped that the people you draw in are those who you prefer to have hanging around.

OK OK this was just an excuse to post an interesting picture totally unrelated to magnets.

Posted by Lodestone at 01:02 PM | Permalink

You're looking at things that some people don't believe really exist.

They're cow magnets.

Each is 1/2” diameter and 3” long

These things are used by dairy farmers and veterinarians to help prevent Hardware Disease.

And no, Hardware Disease is not something your PC picks up from the web.

While grazing, cows eat everything from grass and dirt to nails, staples and bits of bailing wire (referred to as tramp iron). Tramp iron tends to lodge in the honeycombed walls of the reticulum, threatening the surrounding vital organs and causing irritation and inflammation, known as Hardware Disease.

The cow loses her appetite and decreases milk output or her ability to gain weight. Cow magnets help prevent this disease by attracting stray metal from the folds and crevices of the rumen and reticulum.

One magnet reportedly works for the life of the cow.

No word on how you convince a cow to swallow this thing.

Posted by Lodestone at 01:03 PM | Permalink