Fun with Magnets

https://kottke.org/23/01/fun-with-magnets

by dxs • 4 years ago

30 12 4 years ago

smikhanov• 4 years ago

Just make sure to never swallow one (or allow children around you to swallow one).

jplona• 4 years ago

My understanding was that one is ok, but swallowing two creates the possibility that they attract and meet each other through different parts of your insides.

torotonnato2• 4 years ago

But if you happen to swallow one and you are in a hurry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17QKhX-8dm0

frr149• 4 years ago

Wont it shut come out the other end?

Tagbert• 4 years ago

Never swallow 2. One is not a problem. Two is a medial emergency.

limbicsystem• 4 years ago

Where is the energy coming from?

torotonnato2• 4 years ago

From the magnetic field. The catch is that, to reload the gun, you have to do work at least equal to the final kinetic energy of the projectile. Realistically you have to account for energy losses like friction and collision inelasticity.

Leszek• 4 years ago

Same place any other distance-based potential energy (like gravity) comes from: being far away from the magnets -- and on repeated firings of a ball, from pulling it away from the magnets.

MengerSponge• 4 years ago

The system isn't looping. Notice that it takes work to pull the accelerated ball out of the magnetic field after each shot.

So I guess the answer is solar radiation -> food -> ATP -> magnets -> kinetic energy. It isn't particularly efficient :)

akomtu• 4 years ago

On the magnetic field landscape, this structure looks like a steep slope.

sam_goody• 4 years ago

Is it possible to make a "air hockey" table with (electro)-magnets underneath (positive side up), and a disc composed of two magnets glued back to back (positive side out), so that it should always be floating?

It would seem that should be much more reliable than fans.

My guess is that the disc may need some playing with - perhaps a ball instead comprised of magnets spliced together, perhaps the disk would need to taper off towerds the end, or perhaps the disc would even need to be spun (flat), since as long as it is rotating it might less flip to the side.

I actually tried building this once, but did not have the materials or skillset to see if it could really be done.

Is it possible?

thro1• 4 years ago

It will turn and fall if not flat, otherwise it will levitate or fall faster. You may need one field locally flat enough as a surface to avoid patterns of uneven forces.

Fun with Magnets

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