Phone Magnet

[Teroniss]

I'm a bit concerned. I put my cellphone down recently, and when I picked it up, I realized it was magnetically attracting a paperclip. I checked with other things, and realized, my phone has somehow become a tiny electromagnet. Is that even possible, and how would that even occur?

Edit: Damn, just realized I posted this in the wrong section. Could a mod move this to the General Board please?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Every phone has an electromagnet in it - it's how it makes the sound.

Of course, being strong enough to pick up paperclips is slightly different...

[Faerie Alex]

Any wire with a current moving through it generates a magnetic field around it. But I wouldn't have thought the field generated by a phone would be enough to pick up paperclips.

Just making sure, it does not attract paperclips if the phone is powered off, or the battery is removed?

[Teroniss]

Just making sure, it does not attract paperclips if the phone is powered off, or the battery is removed?

No, it's still magnetized in both those situations 

[Tapewolf]

No, it's still magnetized in both those situations 

Most speaker drivers use a permanent magnet.  I wouldn't worry about it.

[Teroniss]

K, I still find it strange that it is strong enough to attract things like paperclips though. =/

I mean, should I start carrying it in something other than my pockets, since magnets can wipe out CC's?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

You probably shouldn't be carrying your CC in the pocket with the phone anyway.

[Teroniss]

You probably shouldn't be carrying your CC in the pocket with the phone anyway.

Well, I'm by no means a technical genius at all, so I had no idea cellphones contained magnets, let alone ones strong enough to attract small objects >.<

Otherwise, I wouldnt have.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Now you know - which was all I was saying. ;-]

[VSMIT]

Mythbusters showed that nothing short of a neodymium magnet would be able to wipe a credit card.  So unless your phone is putting out about 1.25T you don't have much to worry about.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

To be honest, I was thinking more along the lines of scratching one or the other. But that's by the by...

[superluser]

I had a cell phone that I think used a magnet to hold its battery in place.

[Sofox]

That's an attractive feature.

[Tapewolf]

Some of the blackberries have a magnet in the holster - I think it uses a reed switch in the device to tell if it's cradled (and thus disables the buttons).