Use of Electromagnets in Hard Drives

Hard drives store data using electromagnets. Unlike a permanent magnet the power of an electromagnet can be adjusted with differences in the electrical current that runs through it. The hard drive has rapidly rotating stiff disks with magnetic workings that can store small binary pieces of information called bits. When the magnet is on it stores information that stays stored or magnetized even when the power is turned off. A small magnetic device called a read-write head moves back and forth over the disk to record or save data. The read-write device is moved by an activator. Platters move thousands of revolutions per minute and they can be read by read-write devices on either side. There can be multiple platters in a computer.

Junk Yard Magnet (Jack Nilsen)

Junk Yard Magnets

What are they?

Everyone has seen Junk Yard Magnets in action movies. They are usually found in the villain's lair smashing stuff. The magnets are found in Junk Yards where heavy metal, mostly from cars, needs to be moved.

How do they work?

These giant machines are essentially massive electromagnets. They work as seen in the photo below.

A coil is wrapped around a solid piece of metal. Electro current is run through the coil and this generates an electromagnetic field which in turn makes metal objects attract to one end of the electromagnet and repel from the other end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdkac3wJ9Aw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3mY44POVEo

ELECTROMAGNETS

             I am going to write my blog about scrapyard electromagnets. Commonly used in scrapyards, these electromagnets are super powerful, and used to lift huge amounts of metal. Commonly attached to cranes, they transport and sort metal for recycling. 

                The scrapyard crane uses electricity and magnets to charge the magnets. The magnets are supercharged by electricity and this makes them incredibly strong. The diagram below shows the how the magnets work. Please watch the video linked below to see this in action.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na6-URHxOtU

Pinball Electromagnets

Some machines feature electrically operated magnets below the playfield to affect the ball's speed and/or trajectory depending upon certain conditions that are met during the game. This may be done to make the ball's movement unpredictable, to temporarily halt the ball (as a ball saver, for example), or to otherwise control the ball by non-mechanical means. The electromagnets may also be used to pick up the ball and move it to different parts of the machine. The Williams machine The Twilight Zone featured a mini-playfield that used electromagnets controlled by the flipper buttons, allowing the player to flip the ball on the mini-playfield, essentially working as invisible flippers. Contrary to somewhat popular myth, there are no professionally produced pinball machines known to contain magnets under the playfield intended to clandestinely make game play harder or increase losses, increasing gains for the machine makers.


This diagram shows one of the ways that the ball might be controlled by electromagnets during the game, making it much more unpredictable and harder to win.

Nate Battistone

5-22-19

Physics Project

Magnetic Levitation Trains

Magnetic levitation, or MagLev is a technology that uses electromagnets to lift a train off the tracks, to eliminate friction. This system has been introduced on trains in Asian countries and manny European countries. It works pretty simply, it’s like a normal train, except without wheels and an engine, it has magnets that hover above the rail enough to lift the train.

The reason that this works so well is because the reduction in friction caused by a wheel on a rail is completely avoided and replaced by a zero friction system of electro magnetics. This allows the train to both levitate off the repulsion of magnets but also propelle the train using rapidly switching magnets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-rNILcfTKM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev

Electromagnets in Garbage Disposal

          The garbage disposal was invented in 1927 by a guy named John W. Hammes, they were originally called "electric pigs" and didn't become a normal thing to have until around 50 years after they hit the market. Although the original design was much less effective and smooth as it is now, the basic principles of the garbage disposal using electromagnets is still there.
          The garbage disposal uses a high torque insulated electric motor that rotates at around 1,400-1,500 RPM, this rotation is attained by the magnetic principals of the electric motor. The electrical motor has a voltage source, a shaft, an electromagnet, and at least one additional magnet. When current from the voltage source flows through the coil, a magnetic field is produced around the electromagnet. The like fields or "poles" of the magnets repel each other (Coulomb's law)cause the motor to turn at this accelerated rate.
           The garbage disposal is used to cut up food scraps into more easily moveable and disposable pieces that can be more easily disposed of in the sewer. Although the motor in garbage disposals spins extremely fast, it is not strong enough to cut up things like spoons or knives (however it will definitely cut your finger up so please don't put your fingers in there!!)
Sources: http://www.classzone.com/vpg_ebooks/sci_sc_6/accessibility/sci_sc_6/page_540.pdf?scrlybrkr=900d5b26
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_disposal_unit

Electromagnetic Field

Electromagnetic Field Detectors

Electromagnetic field detectors are the machines that ghost hunters use to detect paranormal activity. EMF detectors recognize the electromagnetic fields that are present in the area and the fluctuations of the fields. The detector is an A.C. circuit that identifies the radiation that EMF’s produce. The EMF detector picks up currents that travel back and forth super fast, like 60 times per second fast.

EMF has been a helpful tool for identifying any harmful radiation in everyday places. It's the tool to ensure that your home is safe and will not be the cause of any cancers or bad radiation.  The usage of EMF detectors has gotten very popular in the supernatural movements. Ghost Hunters believe that ghosts or spirits create an electromagnetic field around them causing to help them talk with the living.

The EMF detector has a small piece of metal that is the receiver to the electromagnetic fields. The metal then transfers a current to the LED showing you how if and how much electromagnetic disturbance there is.