4 ms·

Yeah, I also had one for a few years and wouldn't really recommend it. It's cool to feel fans and microwaves spin up or pick up small parts, but the magnet lost

Yeah, I also had one for a few years and wouldn't really recommend it. It's cool to feel fans and microwaves spin up or pick up small parts, but the magnet lost strength over time and I got it removed because it wasn't worth the sensitivity and constant worrying about hitting it too hard. I also had to be careful not to hold it against strong magnets for too long; I was told if the skin got pinched too much/too long, bad things could happen. But hey, want to try it without having to cut a finger open? Try super-gluing a small neodymium disc magnet to a fingernail. Just be careful with your phone.

pizza 8y ago
I'm imagining a bemusing hypothetical scenario where every night before you go to bed you could plug in your finger into a finger-shaped magnetizer, as if you were charging a phone or something.
peteretep 8y ago
> It's cool to feel fans and microwaves Feel like it should be possible to have a bracelet that buzzes in response to magnetic fields as a less extreme alternative to this?
- seanp2k2 8y ago
  or just get a magnetic bracelet?
  - SiempreViernes 8y ago
    The magnetic fields from those items don't produce much force, so you need a small thing on sensitive skin to notice the effect. A bracelet is probably too heavy to notice fields that don't also come with a "warning: strong magnetic field" sign.
    - ahje 8y ago
      How about a ring with magnetic material in it? I can easily pick up very small vibrations and movements in my wedding ring. I can imagine that a magnet in another ring would respond in a similar way, and felt much in the same was as a magnet in the finger.
      - SiempreViernes 8y ago
        From other comments in this thread I think facts of the matter is that the vibrations you sense in your ring aren't that small comparing with what you can feel with your fingertips. Which to me makes sense, I wouldn't put the sensitivity at the base of my finger above what I have at the tip.
      - jdietrich 8y ago
        Powerful neodymium magnet rings are readily available and widely used by close-up magicians (search "PK ring" or "kinetic ring"). They don't palpably react to common electromagnetic fields.
    - peteretep 8y ago
      I mean I guess I was thinking of something to amplify the effect, probably with a small battery in it. All the sated curiosity with none of the questionable body modification :-P
      - leggomylibro 8y ago
        Sadly, you can't beat the physics with today's magnets. Magnetic monopoles are still sci-fi, so the strength of a magnetic field over distance falls of with an inverse cube law; the field strength is proportional to 1 / (distance ^ 3). For the same reason, electromagnets need to use an enormous amount of power to be effective over long distances. That's why people get these magnets implanted; because they sit right against the nerve, and the distance is on the order of nanometers. Hurts like heck to get it in, though.

pizza 8y ago

I'm imagining a bemusing hypothetical scenario where every night before you go to bed you could plug in your finger into a finger-shaped magnetizer, as if you were charging a phone or something.

peteretep 8y ago

> It's cool to feel fans and microwaves Feel like it should be possible to have a bracelet that buzzes in response to magnetic fields as a less extreme alternative to this?

seanp2k2 8y ago
or just get a magnetic bracelet?
- SiempreViernes 8y ago
  The magnetic fields from those items don't produce much force, so you need a small thing on sensitive skin to notice the effect. A bracelet is probably too heavy to notice fields that don't also come with a "warning: strong magnetic field" sign.
  - ahje 8y ago
    How about a ring with magnetic material in it? I can easily pick up very small vibrations and movements in my wedding ring. I can imagine that a magnet in another ring would respond in a similar way, and felt much in the same was as a magnet in the finger.
    - SiempreViernes 8y ago
      From other comments in this thread I think facts of the matter is that the vibrations you sense in your ring aren't that small comparing with what you can feel with your fingertips. Which to me makes sense, I wouldn't put the sensitivity at the base of my finger above what I have at the tip.
    - jdietrich 8y ago
      Powerful neodymium magnet rings are readily available and widely used by close-up magicians (search "PK ring" or "kinetic ring"). They don't palpably react to common electromagnetic fields.
  - peteretep 8y ago
    I mean I guess I was thinking of something to amplify the effect, probably with a small battery in it. All the sated curiosity with none of the questionable body modification :-P
    - leggomylibro 8y ago
      Sadly, you can't beat the physics with today's magnets. Magnetic monopoles are still sci-fi, so the strength of a magnetic field over distance falls of with an inverse cube law; the field strength is proportional to 1 / (distance ^ 3). For the same reason, electromagnets need to use an enormous amount of power to be effective over long distances. That's why people get these magnets implanted; because they sit right against the nerve, and the distance is on the order of nanometers. Hurts like heck to get it in, though.