Paperclips dance to electromagnets on train

Paperclips respond to electromagnetism coming through floor of train in Japan. (Via Pink Tentacle)

[#1 posted by KWillets, July 15, 2009 8:54 AM]

I've seen that on BART as well. I guess those are the static winding for the motor?

[#2 posted by Anonymous, July 15, 2009 9:08 AM]

I wonder how stray magnetic fields affect things like heart pacemakers? Can't imagine it's very pleasant.

[#3 posted by Takuan, July 15, 2009 9:09 AM]

ooww! my pacemaker!

[#4 posted by KitWorks, July 15, 2009 9:14 AM]

Hmm, I'll have to try that next time I'm on a subway. I think it should work for most light rail, ya?

[#5 posted by moloko, July 15, 2009 9:18 AM]

Don't drop your credit card on the floor...

[#6 posted by Takuan, July 15, 2009 9:24 AM]

so you could build an alarm into your shoe that counts the start-stop pulses and buzzes you into waking up at the right time.

[#7 posted by Beverly Stayart, July 15, 2009 9:25 AM]

Quite an interesting sight -- almost looks as if they are dancing!

[#8 posted by Anonymous, July 15, 2009 9:33 AM]

is exposure all that electromagnetic current healthy?

[#9 posted by royaltrux, July 15, 2009 9:33 AM]

I assume the paperclips were previously magnetized and have a north and south pole? Otherwise, wouldn't they merely cling to the floor?

[#10 posted by Takuan, July 15, 2009 9:37 AM]

they are circular so they must polarize with induced current(?)

[#11 posted by Anonymous, July 15, 2009 9:40 AM]

Krist, the floor of that subway is CLEAN!!!

[#12 posted by mypalmike, July 15, 2009 9:41 AM]

In 1953, in order to spur economic development, Japan passed a law requiring all paperclips manufactured in the country to be slightly magnetized.

[#13 posted by Ha'penny, July 15, 2009 9:48 AM]

Does anyone know if this would work on the London Underground?

[#14 posted by Anonymous, July 15, 2009 9:56 AM]

So would that kill a hard drive if your left your laptop on the floor?

[#15 posted by Anonymous, July 15, 2009 10:07 AM]

In 2005 my wife and I toured the Alcan-Kitimat aluminum smelter in Kitimat, British Columbia. As part of the tour, we were taken into the smelter to see the aluminum smelters.

The tour bus was driven into the building housing the pot line; two rows of large steel containers lined with carbon, where the electrolysis takes place. As we started to enter the building, our tour guide passed out hand full's of paper clips. The buss stopped at 90 degrees to the pot line. And in the huge magnetic field generated by the electrolytic process, paper clips, thrown on the floor, would stand on end, just like in this video. You could make vertical chains and pyramids with the clips and balance them in the palm of your hand. Paper clips would balance on end across the metal seat backs.

A fun but kind eery experience. Watching paper clips dance and stand on end makes you wonder what's happening to your vital parts. The tour guide claimed workers on the pot line have never suffered ill effects from the magnetic field; they probable suffer more from the intense heat.

I have to assume she knew what she was talking about; but everyone on the bus had to leave digital watches and cameras behind before going on the tour. So if you're on a train in Japan, it may not be the best move to put your digital camera on floor.

[#16 posted by elk, July 15, 2009 10:15 AM]

Their transit floor hygiene is incredible.

Unless you count the paperclips.

[#17 posted by Anonymous, July 15, 2009 11:01 AM]

It obviously didn't damage whatever filmed this.

[#18 posted by TroofSeeker, July 15, 2009 11:11 AM]

I've always wondered how we might be affected by all the radio and TV broadcast waves we're bombarded with, perpetually. Having iron in our blood probably gives us our sense of direction, but maybe it's also acting as an antenna. There have been a few occaisions when I had a song in my head, then changed radio station and that song was playing.

[#19 posted by Takuan, July 15, 2009 11:15 AM]

http://riverdaughter.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/tinfoil.jpg

[#20 posted by Takuan, July 15, 2009 11:16 AM]

http://www.stuk.fi/stuk/tiedotteet/en_GB/news_527/

[#21 posted by Takuan, July 15, 2009 11:18 AM]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cd/Waldo_Astounding_SF_Aug_1942.jpg

[#22 posted by Anonymous, July 15, 2009 11:48 AM]

I have seen this happen on the BART trains in San Francisco in High School. I have been trying to recreate it now for a while, and i cant get it to work, glad to see i wasn't just imagining it...

[#23 posted by Anonymous, July 15, 2009 12:29 PM]

This works on DC Metro trains too. I happened to witness the same dance when someone spilled a box of paperclips inside the doorway --a whole box! They must have been right over one of the armatures because they all jumped to attention and stayed there as long as the motor was under load. They swayed to and fro according to changes in the load. It was freaky to watch.

[#24 posted by prunk, July 15, 2009 12:59 PM]

would this be one of the Japanese bullet trains? i.e. the mag-lev trains? That might make more sense as to why there is such a large electro-magnetic field about them.

@15 anon.

I did a tour of some of the steel plants out in Ontario with a similar experience. There were three large poles about a foot in diameter and about 20 feet long that were dipped into a slightly molten batch of steel. Then bwam! They throw crap-loads of current through it and the electricity arcs between the giant rods further melting and purifying the steel mix. All the screens in the read-out rooms would fuzz out because they were crts. Same thing said though, no ill effects on the workers, provided you don't have a pacemaker. Clever way though to ensure nobody takes any pictures, or for that matter that anyone knows what time it is.

[#25 posted by Anonymous, July 15, 2009 1:08 PM]

Imagine what a few pounds of iron filings spilled on the floor would look like... ;)

[#26 posted by SkullHyphy, July 15, 2009 1:14 PM]

I started consciously not putting my bag on the floor of buses and trains, when it contained electronics, because of a friend's theory that his coworker's iPods kept dying because he set them on the floor.

[#27 posted by Takuan, July 15, 2009 1:20 PM]

could do some fun street theatre with this... squatting among the paper clips and raving about draining the energy fluxes and crushing all puny humans... needs a good hat though.

[#28 posted by Takuan, July 15, 2009 1:22 PM]

http://www.ideofact.com/archives/galactus.gif

[#29 posted by Anonymous, July 15, 2009 1:39 PM]

Just an FYI, there are no commercial maglevs in operation anywhere in the world. The Japanese bullet trains run on rails. Although from the sound of the video, this one may be running on tires.

I'm guessing they are right over one of the motors and we're just seeing the fields as the train accelerates and decelerates.

And for the record, all the trains that I have been on in Japan are that clean. I'm more surprised by the lack of passengers! I have never been on a train that empty.

[#30 posted by apoxia, July 15, 2009 2:26 PM]

The cells in my body align like this all the time as my office sits one floor above a 3T MRI machine. Apparently the magnetic field comes up to pelvis height in the lunchroom. Great stuff!

[#31 posted by sciencemike, July 15, 2009 3:15 PM]

Somebody needs to try this with ferrofluid. I wish there was a subway here in the mini-apple.

[#32 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden, July 15, 2009 4:05 PM]

Apoxia, can you feel it in the quick of your fingernails and the roots of your teeth?

[#33 posted by Arragnathor, July 15, 2009 4:10 PM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linimo

Yep, there are commercial maglevs in Japan, though first prize would definitely go to the Shanghai airport maglev. If the Chūō Shinkansen ever gets built, then Tokyo to Osaka would be cut to an hour by train (over 500km). There have been various other proposals, such Vegas to LA or in the UK, but this is the most likely one to actually be built, given the current recession.

[#34 posted by hohum, July 15, 2009 4:20 PM]

@31, If I had a nice supply of ferrofluid, I'd do it on DC Metro in a heartbeat!

[#35 posted by apoxia, July 15, 2009 4:36 PM]

#32

Yes I most definitely can, and I also believe it has given me superhuman powers.

[#36 posted by Anonymous, July 15, 2009 5:22 PM]

The name of the line is Rokkou Island Line

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rokk%C5%8D_Island_Line for more info. The trains they use are from 1990, http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A5%9E%E6%88%B8%E6%96%B0%E4%BA%A4%E9%80%9A1000%E5%9E%8B%E9%9B%BB%E8%BB%8A

Pretty old stock, but that is not unusual outside of Tokyo. Made by Kawasaki but internal parts from a host of different makers.

http://www.khi.co.jp/sharyo/pro_final/pro_kobe1000.html

Cheers, Tokyobling

[#37 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden, July 15, 2009 6:34 PM]

Well, cool.

[#38 posted by SkullHyphy, July 15, 2009 6:48 PM]

They are right next to an access panel, if that means anything. I don't know enough about the construction of this train to judge the significance.