
Tokyo researchers created the strongest controllable magnetic field in history - kulu2002
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/7xj4vg/watch-scientists-accidentally-blow-up-their-lab-with-the-strongest-indoor-magnetic-field-ever
======
camtarn
Anti-clickbait: they didn't blow up their lab, just blew the doors off an iron
enclosure intended to contain the massive shockwave, which turned out to be
even more massive than intended. Still impressive though!

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
> just blew the doors off an iron enclosure intended to contain the massive
> magnetic field

Now, I'm by no means a physicists, but aren't iron enclosures particularly bad
at containing magnetic fields?

~~~
CompelTechnic
From a tiny bit of experience, I know that industrial electromagnets (think of
the ones they use to pick up steel at a scrap yard) often have an iron/steel
housing that is used as a "return path" for the field. The front face of the
magnet has a field that projects out into the air, but the field on the back
face gets channeled into the housing.

~~~
kazinator
Alnico horseshoe magnets are often sold with a keeper bar:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet_keeper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet_keeper)

------
jandrese
It blows my mind that we can compress a magnetic field with chemical
explosives. I wouldn't have expected them to interact much at all.

~~~
phkahler
>> I wouldn't have expected them to interact much at all.

They don't interact directly:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosively_pumped_flux_compre...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosively_pumped_flux_compression_generator)

~~~
piyh
This is the link I was looking for in the comments, thanks.

------
bhousel
I'm kind of amazed they were even able to record a video in a 1200 Tesla
magnetic field.

~~~
d-sc
Magnetic fields tend to decay with distance from the source which helps.

~~~
etiam
And broadly speaking by the cube of the distance from the source apparently.
But in this case it decays from a mind-boggling starting level by everyday
life standards. If that camera is 5 meters away from the source the field
there is still about 10 Tesla. I think that's about an order of magnitude more
than most MRI machines for clinical purposes, and those already warrant a good
deal of care with effects on metals.

~~~
lostlogin
MRI vendors require some parts be photographed at service. Standard tool for
this is a phone camera. I don’t know if this applies above 3T but at that
level it’s all fine. And as for clinical field strengths - there are 7T
scanners being marketed, but they are rare.

~~~
etiam
I personally don't work with machines like that, and never have, but I imagine
most service would be out of the question without bringing down the magnetic
field? If the magnet is not active, certainly consumer electronics could be
used even near it. If the magnet _is_ active at anything close to it's
operation level, I'm seriously skeptical that a cell phone would fare okay
close to it. Have you tried for yourself? Are you sure that the photos you've
been in touch with were not rather taken at about 0T ?

~~~
lostlogin
Nearly all service work is done with the magnetic field up as ramping down is
a massive deal. iPhones and iPads work fine until very close and it’s what the
documentation is kept on for the vendors I know (Siemens and GE, Philips use
Microsoft gear). Philips require photos of the cold head, which is pretty
close in. Get too close to the bore and they turn off for a bit, which is
probably due to cutting flux lines quickly. Id suspect it doesn’t help their
lifespan but I’ve yet to see it kill a phone.

------
rhcom2
Reminds me of the scene at the end of Real Genius when they get their laser
chemical laser to finally work and it puts a hole through the building.

------
tomkat0789
Could you put a machine (that wasn't powered by TNT or something equally
crazy) into a space ship for protection from cosmic rays? Is that something
people are looking into?

~~~
scrumbledober
I don't have a source on hand but I have read some study that theorized a very
powerful electromagnet in a mars-sun lagrange point could be used to create a
magnetic field to shield mars from cosmic radiation in a similar way to
earth's magnetosphere. I seem to remember the power needed being (obviously)
very large but surprisingly not many orders of magnitude out of plausibility.
For a much smaller entity than a planet (spaceship) it may be possible with a
low enough power consumption to make it possible. I would imagine there would
be many many engineering concerns with having such a high powered magnet in
your spaceship though.

------
calebm
I think the most likely doomsday scenario involves this type of weapon.

------
mrhackerpoland
Now my question is, can it damage SSD? Or interfere with my wifi?

Is it strong enough to alter my brain?

~~~
forgot-my-pw
Some examples of Tesla unit:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_(unit)#Examples](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_\(unit\)#Examples)
&
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(magnetic_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_\(magnetic_field\))

8 T – the strength of LHC magnets

11.75 T – the strength of INUMAC magnets, largest MRI scanner

16 T – magnetic field strength required to levitate a frog

17.6 T – strongest field trapped in a superconductor in a lab as of July 2014

35.4 T – the current (2009) world record for a superconducting electromagnet
in a background magnetic field

45 T – the current (2015) world record for continuous field magnets

100 T - Strongest pulsed non-destructive magnetic field produced in a
laboratory

1200 T - Record for indoor pulsed magnetic field, (University of Tokyo, 2018)

2800 T - Record for human produced, pulsed magnetic field, (VNIIEF, 2001)

1 MT - 100 MT - Strength of a neutron star

~~~
ChuckMcM
Wow, 2800T is .28% of a neutron star? That is pretty impressive.

------
cuboidGoat
Vice really needs to hire some proofreaders.

~~~
justtopost
I hate when I see a sciency article from them. They are great with human
interest stuff (if you like their spin) but the technical stuff is always
lacking. You can tell where the writer hits their wall of undertanding and
tries to fill it with quotes instead of working with someone knowlegable on
the subject.

