Word up, Hallmark.Magnets are a big part of our everyday lives. The signal is faint, but the good news is that science has proved attraction is quantifiable. Using a sensor the size of a sugar cube, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology can track the magnetic pattern of a human heart. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines generate a field 60,000 times as intense as the earthвЂ™s to vibrate the hydrogen atoms in your body in response, the atoms emit radio waves that are analyzed to produce a map of your insides.ДЎ9. That is probably why loggerhead turtles can migrate 8,000 miles in unfamiliar waters while humans can get lost looking for the restroom at Olive Garden.ДЎ8. Microbes, birds, and some other animals have magnetic crystals inside their bodies that allow them to orient themselves.ДЎ7. Some geologists think they are created when lighting strikes iron-rich rocks.ДЎ6. Where lodestones come from is another mystery of magnetism. Ancient mariners navigated by lodestone, naturally occurring magnetic rocks.ДЎ5. It is moving toward Siberia at a rate of up to 35 miles per year, according to the U.S. Worse still, it is constantly drifting in response to currents in the earthвЂ™s core. Right now it is in the Arctic Ocean, near northern Canada.ДЎ3. And the earthвЂ™s magnetic south (aka вЂњnorthвЂќ) pole isnвЂ™t even precisely at the geographic north pole. why north? Since north poles are attracted to south poles, the вЂњnorthвЂќ arrow on your compass actually points toward the earthвЂ™s south magnetic pole, which is the one up north. ThatвЂ™s why the north pole of a compass needle pointsвЂ‰.вЂ‰er. The earthвЂ™s magnetic field is created by electric currents in an ocean of molten iron at its core. All magnets have north and south poles, and opposite poles attract: North poles seek south poles seek north poles seek south poles seek. Yin Seeks Yang for Magnetic Relationship. Slap on your local plumberвЂ™s business card, and - voilГ !ДЎ0. Cool it so the aligned electrons get frozen in place. DIY refrigerator magnet: Apply an external magnetic field to some hot metal. The arrangement of the electrons in metals makes them particularly open to magnetic peer pressure.Д©. But if some of the electrons are unpaired, they can be induced to move around so that their poles line up, creating a net magnetic field. Within an atom, each electron is usually paired with an opposite-oriented electron so that their magnetic pulls cancel each other out.ДЁ. Why does every electron have those poles? As soon as someone finds out, weвЂ™ll get back to you.Д§. The orientation of those poles defines the direction of the electronвЂ™s (somewhat imaginary) rotation.Д¦. вЂњ Spin вЂќ is just a physicistвЂ™s term for the little magnetic north and south poles baked into every electron. But who better than Feynman would have known that not all electrons spin in the same direction?ДҐ. Those seconds were packed with oversimplifications: вЂњAll the electrons are spinning in the same direction.вЂќД¤. He did break down and try for a few seconds before abandoning the attempt. After seven minutes of stonewalling, he finally said, вЂњI really canвЂ™t do a good job, any job, of explaining magnetic force in terms of something else that youвЂ™re more familiar with because I donвЂ™t understand it in terms of anything else that youвЂ™re more familiar with.вЂќДЈ. When asked to explain magnetism, he urged his BBC interviewer to take it on faith (video). Magnetism is familiar to every fifth grader, but describing it can confound even the most brilliant physicist.Дў.

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