Especially if your science is physics. Obviously something to do with magnetic… [Waves hands around] domains. Yeah, definitely those domains probably.
The tweezers here have two small disc magnets attached. When the arms are squeezed together, one magnet flips up to contact the other arm. When they’re squeezed again, it flips back – and so on. The freaky aspect is that it happens so consistently. Same input but opposite outcome, every other time.
It seems like there’s some sort of “magnetic equilibrium” that neither position can quite satisfy. Whichever one it’s in, the system takes any opportunity to get out again. It’s also very dependent on how the magnets are positioned. I got them this way quite by chance, and I haven’t (yet) been able to reproduce the arrangement. One other clue: Their poles are aligned in the same direction.
Answers on a postcard. Or in the comments, which I suppose are a form of post-post postcard.
Sorry. First day back in college. I have a bit of delirious.
Related articles
- Magnetic Field Experiments (invent.answers.com)
- Magnetic Charge Crystallization Directly Visualized in Artificial Spin Ice Material (azonano.com)
- Magnet therapy claims not supported by science (beaconnews.ca)