I'm working on a story focused around a large electromagnet on an island. In short, a research facility is established on a remote island to house the electromagnet and conduct tests in secret. I'd like to explore the possibilities of what's possible with sufficiently strong magnets and the implications of stationing human life around them.
I'd like the magnet to be originally properly shielded, but then have that shielding break, leading to a large magnetic field strong enough to "pull in" any planes and boats that get somewhat close to the island. So… pretty strong.
Questions:
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What could you actually do with a magnet that strong? Are there any (benevolent or not) uses?
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What are the health implications for workers on the island? Obviously, no metalwork in the body (pacemakers, hips, etc) and no phones/etc within the initial shielding, but… is it harmful to be exposed to strong magnetic fields for a long time? Anyone know the effects there?
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Am I correct in assuming that some kind of shielding around the magnet would keep the field "in" without it affecting the rest of the island? If so, would it also be possible to increase the power of the magnet enough to "get past" that shielding and, for example, crumple the entire research facility around the magnet and destroy the magnetic shields in the process?
Really, any other relevant or cool info you know about magnets is also appreciated. :)
This reminds of The Mountain of Adamant, but I’m no expert on magnets.
I just wanna say, that I'm EXTREMELY interested in the plotline this would concern.
I would assume that the shield around it would have to be a magnet as well, facing inward if possible, with the opposite attraction. (Positive if the island one was negative.) It would be best if it was kept constantly perfectly as powerful as the giant magnet. It would be powered by electricity, of course, and so a simple power failure (for whatever reason) could create a huge amount of damage (depending on what was around the wall area.)
I don't know much about this type of thing, but this one episode of a show might help, (if you're okay with spoilers»)
"Live Free or Die" is the first episode of the fifth season of Breaking Bad, and they use a giant magnet wired to like, 40 car batteries to wreak havoc on a police station and destroy evidence. ?Might help?
@The-Althalosian-lsNotLikeOtherSquirrels Never heard of The Mountain of Adamant, but I'll definitely check it out. Thanks for the suggestion. :)
@Wolfheart Haha, the island/magnet are more of a plot device than the actual plot itself. The actual theme/plot of the story is mostly to just outline a bunch of events that happened on an island that ultimately ended up with everyone's death, and therefore nobody left (except the narrator, I guess) that knows that island's long history.
@nikes I LOVED Breaking Bad. I'll give that episode a rewatch. Thanks!
Still sounds interesting!
@The-Althalosian-lsNotLikeOtherSquirrels Never heard of The Mountain of Adamant, but I'll definitely check it out. Thanks for the suggestion. :)
It is originally from (I believe, I read the tale but can’t remember what it was from as I’ve read many fairytales) a piece of an old Middle Eastern fairytale. It was a mountain that would destroy ships by pulling out the nails of any ship that sailed too close to it, leaving all passengers stranded on the island. A version of the myth was used in The Wrath and the Dawn, a retelling of the story of One Thousand and One Nights.
Probably the best-known sensory effect of magnetism is shown in total darkness, when the head of a person whose eyes are fully adapted to the dark is put between the poles of an alternating current magnet. As the field strength is increased, the person will begin to see a faint glow around the visual periphery. When the field is reduced, the glow vanishes.
Ooh, that's super cool! Thanks!
Not sure what a “static” magnetic field means, (Just checked with my going-to-be mechanic brother. It’s literally a non-moving magnetic field.) but check out the stuff in Health Effects.
https://www.who.int/peh-emf/publications/facts/fs299/en/
Mythbusters did a few episodes on magnets, and there was a Film Theory episode on Magneto taking the iron out of someone's blood. Both dealt with really strong magnets, but Mythbusters worked with the ones they could get their hands on, while the other focused on theorizing what would happen given current scholarly information.
Isn't the Earth just a huge magnet due to electrical currents that flow in the iron core?
Nobody would be allowed to wear metal on this island that’s for sure.
I'm working on a story focused around a large electromagnet on an island. In short, a research facility is established on a remote island to house the electromagnet and conduct tests in secret. I'd like to explore the possibilities of what's possible with sufficiently strong magnets and the implications of stationing human life around them.
I'd like the magnet to be originally properly shielded, but then have that shielding break, leading to a large magnetic field strong enough to "pull in" any planes and boats that get somewhat close to the island. So… pretty strong.
Questions:
-
What could you actually do with a magnet that strong? Are there any (benevolent or not) uses?
-
What are the health implications for workers on the island? Obviously, no metalwork in the body (pacemakers, hips, etc) and no phones/etc within the initial shielding, but… is it harmful to be exposed to strong magnetic fields for a long time? Anyone know the effects there?
-
Am I correct in assuming that some kind of shielding around the magnet would keep the field "in" without it affecting the rest of the island? If so, would it also be possible to increase the power of the magnet enough to "get past" that shielding and, for example, crumple the entire research facility around the magnet and destroy the magnetic shields in the process?
Really, any other relevant or cool info you know about magnets is also appreciated. :)
@andrew (Our Supreme Lord and Overseer) I know this is very very late but uh here we go. Well for one, an electromagnet is very powerful. And from what I gather from an experiment I did a while back, was that if the electromagnet is strong enough and put in a fixed point, while small precious metal magnets rotated around it, it is possible to create an energy field similar to a forcefield, let alone it creating its own power source that's noiseless, and unlimited. But there is a downside. If the small magnets are not controlled, they will start spinning faster and faster until they create a vortex of nothing but super cooled air. This in turn will eventually stop the magnets becauee they'll freeze and shatter, moat likely destroying everything around it. Strong magnetic fields on humans for long durations can make one feel dizzy, disoriented, and physically sick. It's kinda like the music that's designed to cause pain. If the vibrations and the frequency coming off the electromagnet are strong enough and at just the right frequency, blood can quite literally boil as the iron in your blood tries to escape. Killing the person in the process. (Think veins go boom) It can also make reality seen be warped, and disfigured. So for stopping the electromagnetic field, bismuth would do it, but so would water. Water is 20 times less resistant than bismuth, so bismuth is the best bet. So you'd need less bismuth. You could break the containment field either by boosting the electromagnet, or by not stopping/controlling the small magnets revolving around it. They'll shatter, and go through things at untold velocities. That alone can destroy the facility leading to the electromagnet doing some serious chaos.
Well that explains why we haven't used this as an energy source yet..
Well that explains why we haven't used this as an energy source yet..
Electromagnet go brrrr and then boom.
