Gizmodo: magnetic fields

Scientists Builds His Own Tiny Planet to Create a Magnetic Field

Adam Frucci — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:30:00 EDT

Yesterday, I showed you a great video of NASA scientists explaining how magnetic fields work over beautiful animations making the fields come to life. Today, now that you're all caught up on how the fields work, I'll show you how geophysicist Dan Lathrop is building a fake planet filled with liquid sodium that will, if all goes according to plan, end up with a magnetic field of its own.

The 10-foot-tall, 26-ton steel ball will spin at a high speed of 80MPH at its equator when it's fully operational. The idea is that our planet gets its magnetic field from the core, a quickly spinning ball of liquid metal, probably liquid iron. Because iron only melts at seriously high temperatures — this is the center of the Earth we're talking about, after all — Lathrop is using liquid sodium instead.

Hopefully, when it's heated up and starts spinning, the liquid sodium will slosh around in some sort of "organized turbulence," with an overall pattern emerging in how it sloshes around. This will make it like a tiny working model of the center of the Earth, giving us a much better understanding of what goes on down there and just how it controls the magnetic field that makes all compasses point to the North Pole. [Neatorama via NPR]

NASA Scientists Make Magnetic Fields Visible, Beautiful

Adam Frucci — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:20:00 EDT

Magnetic fields are invisible, at least usually. But Scientists from NASA's Space Sciences Laboratory have made them visible as "animated photographs," using sound-controlled CGI and 3D compositing. It makes the fields, as explained by the scientists, dance in an absolutely gorgeous movie called Magnetic Movie. You don't want to miss this one, which is the coolest video that you'll see all week, guaranteed. You can't argue with a combo of beautiful effects and amazing science.

[Animate Projects via Today and Tomorrow via Kottke]

1,301 Florescent Bulbs Lit Solely by Magnetic Fields

Adam Frucci — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:10:48 EST

This field has 1,301 florescent bulbs planted in it, and they're all glowing. They aren't plugged into anything, however; they're powered solely from the magnetic fields produced by the power lines above. It's all a large art project by Richard Box, and if you're really interested in it you can order a DVD of the whole thing from him. If you're cheaper and less interested, just peruse our gallery for the cool shots.
[Project Page via GadgetLab]