Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCT: 7-11 June 2010 (1681-1685)
Carl-E:
Magnets are science.
So is stick-um.
IanClark:
Not true! No one knows how magnets work, but it's a question that's been asked time immemorial. In fact, I often find myself wondering how fuckin' magnets work.
raoullefere:
Wait, wait, wait. You mean the damned things fuck? Why has no one ever warned me about this? I mean, I have several of them on my fridge door right now. Have they been…copulating that close to my food every night?
Mad Cat:
--- Quote from: IanClark on 13 Jun 2010, 16:14 ---Not true! No one knows how magnets work, but it's a question that's been asked time immemorial. In fact, I often find myself wondering how fuckin' magnets work.
--- End quote ---
Magnetic fields occur whenever electrons move. Since electrons are constantly in motion about their respective nucleae, there are always magnetic fields. If the atom has an even number of electrons, then in the aggregate, for every electron orbitting in one direction, there's an electron orbitting in exactly the opposite direction and there is no net magnetic field, as the magnetic fields of the two electrons cancel each other out.
However, in some elements, notably, the metals, there is always an additional electron either present or missing, which allows individual atoms to possess a net magnetic field. However, just like the electrons around an individual nuclear, a quantity of atoms of a given element tend to be oriented randomly, which means the material is not able to build up a net magnetic field where all atoms are oriented int he same direction.
But, if enough of these "ferro-magnetic" elements are arranged together in certain molecular structures, the atoms are held in the same orientation, allowing the material to exhibit a static magnetic field unrelated to any external, physical stimulae. Such molecular arrangements fall into a number of families. Some of the most popular are AlNiCo, aluminum, nickel, and cobalt; Samarium Cobalt; and Neodymium. The magnetic properties of any of these naturally magnetic materials can be destroyed by heating, which liberates atoms from the molecular structure and thus destroys the magnetic field, and dropping or striking, which does the same, but on a much weaker scale. Likewise, ferro-magnetic materials which do not have net magnetic fields may have weak net magnetic fields imparted to them by striking them upon something hard, such as striking an iron rod on concrete. This is the result of the temporary alignment of atoms.
The technology of nMRI, or Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging, is that of placing a living human in a large magnetic field, thus forcing any and all atoms which have a net magnetic field of their own to orient in place with the external magnetic field. Once so oriented, all affected tissues are bombarded by RF (radio) energy of various frequencies. Certain atoms in certain molecules will absorb the RF energy and then immediately reradiate it as a photon of light. Those photons penetrate the body to the machine's detector. Since the machine knows the frequency of RF energy it is emitting at the moment and can detect the direction from which the resonant photons are being emitted, it is possible to map the internal structures of the body without surgery by sweeping across a band of the RF spectrum and by imaging multiple slices of the body. It's like the way different colors of "neon" lights are formed by gases other than neon, xenon, flourine, hydrogen, argon, etc.
tl;dr: So, there you have it. Naturally occurring magnetic fields are the result of the alignment of atoms. No more mystery.
Lost Coastlines:
--- Quote from: raoullefere on 13 Jun 2010, 16:50 ---Wait, wait, wait. You mean the damned things fuck? Why has no one ever warned me about this? I mean, I have several of them on my fridge door right now. Have they been…copulating that close to my food every night?
--- End quote ---
Magnets are homophobic propaganda from the religious right. It's always north and south poles together, but two north or two south, nope!
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