Excellent tags

Doesn't this guy sort of sound like George W. Bush, except that he can string a complete sentence together and correctly pronounce words with more than one syllable?

>> ^kronosposeidon:

Doesn't this guy sort of sound like George W. Bush, except that he can string a complete sentence together and correctly pronounce words with more than one syllable?

Silly Yankees can't distinguish between Southern dialect.

>> ^kronosposeidon:

Doesn't this guy sort of sound like George W. Bush, except that he can string a complete sentence together and correctly pronounce words with more than one syllable?


Still can't pronounce aluminium correctly.

So that's what you've been doing, Robin Williams!

NOW DROP IT FROM TEN FEET! *giddy laughter*

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

I can't believe he couldn't nab supermagnetman.com

The electromagnetic coupling constant is approximately
10 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 times larger than its gravitational counterpart.

Take that, gravity!

>> ^thinker247:

NOW DROP IT FROM TEN FEET! giddy laughter


Looks like he might have tried that by the huge chip missing from the magnet.

That guy seems simultaneously very friendly and incredibly creepy

>> ^Seric:

That guy seems simultaneously very friendly and incredibly creepy


Sometimes, to learn something really cool, you have to put yourself at risk of non-consensual intercourse.

"Now, if you're like me you might be asking yourself, 'Hey SuperMagnetMan, what would happen if I inserted a large magnet into my rectum?' Well, I think this impressive demonstration will really blow your mind...">> ^nach0s:

>> ^Seric:
That guy seems simultaneously very friendly and incredibly creepy

Sometimes, to learn something really cool, you have to put yourself at risk of non-consensual intercourse.

>> ^heathen:

>> ^kronosposeidon:
Doesn't this guy sort of sound like George W. Bush, except that he can string a complete sentence together and correctly pronounce words with more than one syllable?

Still can't pronounce aluminium correctly.


Prepare to have your minds blown. Aluminum is both the correct spelling and pronunciation given by the man who first isolated the metal, Humphrey Davey. The American insistence on pronouncing it correctly only reflects our respect for scientists, even British ones.

For those interested in the physics behind this this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_current

In conductors, electric currents are generated whenever there is a changing magnetic field. These currents generate their own magnetic field, which opposes the magnetic field which generates them. In this example, the magnet once dropped generates a current in the aluminum because as the magnet gets closer, the field gets stronger at the position of the aluminum. This generates a current, which creates its own magnetic field, acting on the magnet, and slowing it down.

Here's where it starts getting really interesting. The generated magnetic field will be notably weaker than the field of the dropped magnet, because the current is subject to electrical resistance. But what if we used a superconducting material, where there is zero electrical resistance, the two magnetic fields should equal eachother, right?

Check out this vid: http://videosift.com/video/The-Meissner-Effect-Awsome-physics

This is called the Meissner effect. This video shows an experiment of a strong magnet being put on top of a YBCO superconductor. All superconductors need to have their temperature dropped dramatically in order to to hit the superconducting threshhold known as a transition temperature. Typical transition temperatures are below 10 kelvin. YBCO is a unique material known as a high temperature superconductor, meaning that it can be cooled to its transition temperature with liquid nitrogen (about 70 kelvin).

This is a really neat effect. Thanks @juliovega914 for some more info on the physics.

As aluminum isn't magnetic, in and of itself, the idea of using a magnet with aluminum can seem illogical. If it weren't for the eddy currents and Lenz's law it would make no sense.

I found a great real-world explanation of this same effect:

"A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine uses an enormous and extremely strong magnet to study a patient's body. The magnet, which has its north pole at the patient's head and its south pole at the patient's feet, is actually a coil of superconducting wire through which electric charges flow.

Aluminum isn't normally magnetic, but as you carry a large aluminum tray toward the magnet, you find that the magnet repels the aluminum. Once again, Lenz's law. The magnet induces a magnetic field in the moving aluminum tray to oppose its own, effectively pushing it away.

You eventually manage to get the aluminum tray up to the magnet. As long as the tray doesn't move, it experiences no magnetic forces. But when you drop it, it falls past the magnet remarkably slowly. What slows down its fall?
That trickster, Lenz. When the tray is stationary, the magnetic field of the magnet is not changing, but as soon as it moves, the field begins changing and an opposing field is induced."

I got to play with a big aluminum bar in an MRI machine once. It is impossible to move quickly.

>> ^entr0py:

>> ^heathen:
>> ^kronosposeidon:
Doesn't this guy sort of sound like George W. Bush, except that he can string a complete sentence together and correctly pronounce words with more than one syllable?

Still can't pronounce aluminium correctly.

Prepare to have your minds blown. Aluminum is both the correct spelling and pronunciation given by the man who first isolated the metal, Humphrey Davey. The American insistence on pronouncing it correctly only reflects our respect for scientists, even British ones.


Bah, he was never too sure himself.

He originally called it Alumium, used Aluminum in his book Chemical Philosphy, and Aluminium on his patent filings.

Even the Wikipedia page for Aluminum redirects to Aluminium, so it must be true.

Fucking magnets, that's how they work!

Gravity is such a weakling.
>> ^Ornthoron:

The electromagnetic coupling constant is approximately
10 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 times larger than its gravitational counterpart.
Take that, gravity!

I can't stand "science" videos that don't explain anything. In my books, this barely deserves a science tag at all. It's nothing but an interesting observation. Any jackass can observe something. Science explains and predicts past and future observations. The intro blurb to @Juliovega's linked vid was critical in understanding this one.