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?
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...
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?
Quote from: modelincard on June 08, 2009, 06:32:55 AM
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 :erk
Quote from: Teroniss on June 08, 2009, 11:24:01 AM
No, it's still magnetized in both those situations :erk
Most speaker drivers use a permanent magnet. I wouldn't worry about it.
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?
You probably shouldn't be carrying your CC in the pocket with the phone anyway.
Quote from: llearch n'n'daCorna on June 08, 2009, 12:08:04 PM
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.
Now you know - which was all I was saying. ;-]
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.
To be honest, I was thinking more along the lines of scratching one or the other. But that's by the by...
I had a cell phone that I think used a magnet to hold its battery in place.
That's an attractive feature.
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).