Book 21, Question 22
What Are the Strongest Magnets in the World?
Some magnets are small enough to fit in your hand, and some are as big as a room. The strongest everyday magnets are made of neodymium, iron, and boron. Let's climb a ladder of magnet strength, from gentle to giant!
More fun facts
- Magnet strength is measured in teslas, named for Nikola Tesla.
- In 2012, Los Alamos scientists made a record 100.75-tesla pulse.
- That's about 2 million times stronger than Earth's field.
- Their 100-tesla magnet is the strongest that doesn't destroy itself.
- Stars called magnetars have fields trillions of times stronger than ordinary stars.
Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, Scientific American
Questions kids ask
What unit measures magnet strength?
The tesla, named for Nikola Tesla.