(Side Note 1: Am I the only one who hears an "oooh" or "ahhh" in the background every time someone says "magnetism" or "magnets"? No one else thinks that? Oh, okay, I guess I'm alone. Uh, thanks.)
So our refrigerator has magnets (oooh...) on it. Yup.
And our family uses these magnets (ahhh...) to hang stuff: calendars, recipes and personal reminders;l sometimes it's pictures or personal reminders, maybe even my first and only 100% physics quiz (but it only stayed up there for a week).
I have a note posted up that reminds me (quite forcefully, might I add) to take my medication.
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| --No. I'm NOT crazy. --The first sign of craziness is denial, dear. |
--Readers: "Medication? For what, Jen?"
--Jen: "Well, for the voices I hear in my head, of course."
--Readers: "Ohhhh...")
Thanks to Physics, I can finally explain how these magnets (oooh...) stick to the refrigerator.
On the atomic level, the electrons of the refrigerator's surface all have spins. The result is a magnetic domain. These atoms are like small tiny magnets (ahhh...) but the directions of their domains all cancel out because they're all randomly spinning in whatever direction they want
(Side Note 3: Electrons are quite stubborn in this way. So stubborn.)
This results in no net magnetic field because the domains do not align.
However, enter typical kitchen magnet (oooh...). The kitchen magnet (ahhh...) causes the domains on the surface of the refrigerator to realign, thus creating a temporary magnet (ooh...) of the refrigerator's surface where the kitchen magnet sticks.
Lo and behold, it sticks. Yay.
And, voila, the Physics of silly magnets (ahhh...).
P.S. Our family manages to buy magnets from places we visit, so here are some for your viewing pleasure.
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| Look at the cute penguin from Montreal, Canada! |
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| Various magnets from Haleakala, Maui! |
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| This one's from Barnes&Noble...not really a trip, but I really liked the quote. It's so...'Iolani, right? |
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