Book 21, Question 39
Is Everything a Little Bit Magnetic?
Is everything a little bit magnetic? In a way, yes! Everything reacts to a very strong magnetic field, even a pencil, a banana, or you, just a tiny bit.
More fun facts
- Most substances are weakly diamagnetic, which means a magnet pushes them away very slightly.
- Water and proteins are diamagnetic, and living things are made mostly of them.
- At the High Field Magnet Laboratory in Nijmegen, scientists made a live frog float inside a 16 tesla magnet.
- Very strong magnets can also float blobs of water and plants.
- Diamagnetic substances include water, protein, and diamond.
- Scientists even used the tiny diamagnetism of human fingertips to help keep a floating magnet steady.
Sources: UCLA
Questions kids ask
Can a magnet make a frog float?
Yes. A very strong 16 tesla magnet floated a live frog because water in its body is weakly pushed away.