Magnetism

A gauss gun fires projectiles by converting magnetic energy into kinetic energy.

Click on the video below to see a simple gauss gun toy in action.

Roll one ball into the magnet and a knock-on effect adds force until the projectile is shot into whatever direction it's pointed (hopefully not into your eye).

Is there any practical use for them apart from as entertaining videos?

The most often cited possible is as a weapon (just what the world needs). But gauss guns might also come in handy for propulsion in space.

Want to make your own gauss gun? Check out the instructions here.

Posted by Lodestone at 02:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

An experimental maglev train has crashed in Germany killing 23 and bringing the future of such systems into doubt.

The accident is reported to be due to human error, and occured when the train struck a maintenance vehicle while travelling at 125mph. Wreckage was scattered over a wide area.

Only one of these magnetically propelled trains is operational worldwide. Located in Shanghai the train connects the Pudong International Airport and the Lujiazui financial district.

This video gives you some idea of how it feels to travel over 300 miles an hour, on a vehicle that floats on a magnetic forcefield 0.4 inch above the track.

Posted by Lodestone at 02:03 AM | Permalink

Your disk drive is a pretty nifty application of magnetism.

This month is the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of the first disk drive, IBM's RAMAC.

IBM didn't actually invent the idea of storing data with magnetic material on metal disks. That honor goes to an engineer called Jacob Rabinow, who was working for the U.S. Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory.

RAMAC was originally meant to have drums rather than disks. But the final design featured 50 metal platters, spinning at 1,200 RPM with a recording density of about 100 bits per inch.

That's about 5MB.

RAMAC was the size of a piano. But it worked along exactly the same principles as the disk drive you can see whizzing away with the lid off in this video.

Posted by Lodestone at 06:16 AM | Permalink

If your house happens to contain long coil-like things and bar magnets, then you can levitate a screw just by using common household items.

That's according to this video.

Presumably the screw hangs there spinning like some crazed metal transcendentalist because the juice of the lemon also sends juice along the wire which develops and electrical field precisely aligned to the grooves in the screw caused by....

Whatever. Who knows how this thing works?

Posted by Lodestone at 10:57 AM | Permalink

According to this story, magnetism is about to give skateboarders faster, longer, further rides.

A guy called James Morris has inserted magnets into skateboard trucks. According to the article, "The production prototype has not yet been tested as to its efficiency ratios. The input versus output proportions have not yet been quantified experimentally."

However Mr Morris says, "You get on this thing, and it goes like twice as far for the same push."

Like, hopefully your board won't end up sticking to steel railings when you perform the kind of crazy stunts depicted in this video dude.

As the guy says on his website, magic or magnets?

The jury is still out.

Posted by Lodestone at 04:34 AM | Permalink

Anyone have any idea what's going on in this video?

Click the image above to see a demonstration of "magnetic water"

A bar painted in magnetic looking colors is held above water, which then reacts to the bar.

Presumably the bar is a magnet. But the water?

Is it science or just a video trick?

Posted by Lodestone at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

A bunch of taxi drivers in the UK are upset because people try to hire their cars at all hours of the day and night whether they are on duty or not.

This story seems to suggest that would-be passengers even attempt to eject drivers' kids and commandeer the car on family outings.

With magnetic taxi signs they'd be able to disguise their vehicles when in civilian use.

Letting the drivers apply magnetic taxi signs at their own expense seems a very reasonable solution.

So determined are the drivers to magnetize their cabs, they are threatening to take the Crawley Council to court.

That would be sticking it to them.

Posted by Lodestone at 02:11 AM | Permalink

Once again strong claims are being made for strong magnets.

Specifically this company sells magnets you clamp on to things to make the fluid inside flow more efficiently. You could apply it to aircon plants, fuel systems and yes, sewage pipes.

Below shows such magnets clamped to a coolant pipe.

Published experiments on Magnetizer's site report this treatment measurably improves the efficiency of aircon cooling systems.

It's easy to be skeptical of this kind of claim. Very easy.

So before you go installing one of these devices, be sure to look at both sides of the story.

Posted by Lodestone at 12:08 AM | Permalink

Here's a company that will soon be bought up by oil companies eager to maintain their monopoly.

Steorn claim to have invented a perpetual motion machine by harnessing the power of magnetism. This diagram from their video explains how it works. Basically, the little green ring goes whizzing around in circles.

From their site: "Steorn’s technology produces free, clean and constant energy. This provides a significant range of benefits, from the convenience of never having to refuel your car or recharge your mobile phone, to a genuine solution to the need for zero emission energy production. It also provides a secure supply of energy, since the components of the technology are readily available."

As the response to these claims prove, magnetism can sure attract a lot of attention.

Which is probably Steorn's primary goal.

Posted by Lodestone at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)