Do magnets actually pose a terrifying risk to our gadgets, and where
did we get the idea that they're dangerous in the first place? Let's
find out...
"This more than likely stems from old electronic
devices, such as CRT monitors and televisions, which were susceptible to
magnetic fields," explains Matt Newby from first4magnets, "When placing
a strong magnet near one of these you could distort the picture.
Thankfully, modern televisions and monitors aren't susceptible in this
way."
Most modern electronics, like our smartphones, are not going to be
adversely affected by small magnets; but is that all there is to it?
How do magnets affect smartphones?
"The
vast majority of magnets that you come across day to day, even many of
the super-strong ones on the market, will have no adverse effect on your
smartphone," says Matt, "In fact, within the device there will be a
number of very small magnets which perform important functions. For
example, the new Apple Watch uses a magnetic inductive wireless charging
system."
However, before you get carried away and start
rubbing magnets all over your smartphone, there is something else to
consider. Matt warned that magnetic fields can temporarily interfere
with the digital compass and magnetometer inside your smartphone, and
that's more serious than you may think.
The engineers over at
K&J Magnetics actually experimented with an iPhone to show how the
sensors inside can be affected by a magnet.
"The problem we
found is that a nearby magnet will affect the internal magnetic sensors
inside the phone. The compass won't read correctly," explained Michael
Paul, an engineer at K&J, "What's worse, if you stick a strong
magnet to the phone, you could slightly magnetize some steel components
inside, making them act like weak magnets. This can make it difficult to
properly calibrate the compass."
You might think it's
unimportant because you never use the compass app, but that doesn't mean
other apps aren't relying on the same sensor.
Google Maps, for example, uses the sensor to detect which way the phone is
facing, and a number of games also rely on it to work out your
orientation.
This is something that
Apple
considers in case and accessory design. In Apple's Case Design
Guidelines, there are sections on Sensor Considerations and Magnetic
Interference, including the line, "Apple recommends avoiding the use of
magnets and metal components in cases."
Manufacturers have to
ensure that the built-in magnetic compass is not affected by their
cases. There's also specific mention of the iPhone 6 Plus, because of
potential problems magnets can cause for the autofocus rear camera with
optical image stabilization.
It seems as though magnets aren't
likely to kill your smartphone, but there's definitely a possibility
they'll mess some pretty important aspects up, so why take the risk?
What about hard drives?
The idea that magnets can erase hard drives is pretty popular,
especially in the world of entertainment. Walter White infamously used a
massive electromagnet to try and wipe evidence off a hard drive in Breaking Bad, for example. Are our fears about magnets erasing hard drives also based on old tech?
"Magnetically recorded data could also be corrupted using magnets -
including things like cassettes, floppy disks, VHS and credit cards,"
says Matt, "If the data is recorded magnetically, it is possible to
corrupt it with magnets." Fine, but where does this leave Walter White
and his hard drive?
"It is theoretically possible that an incredibly strong magnet can
corrupt a hard drive if it is wiped directly over the surface of the
drive," Matt explains, "However, hard drives include neodymium magnets
inside them to operate the read/write arm and to record data, so again,
they aren't going to be affected by regular sized magnets. If you were
to stick magnets to the outside of your PC tower for example, it would
not have any effect on the hard drive."
There's even better
news if you have a flash or a solid state drive. "Flash drives and SSDs
are not really affected by a strong, static magnetic field," according
to Michael.
The engineers at K&J actually tried to use
neodymium magnets for hard drive destruction, but the results were
disappointing. They placed large magnets either side of a running hard
drive until mechanical rubbing sounds were audible, indicating the
magnets were bending parts inside. Despite this, the files on the drive
remained 100% intact.
Larger magnets were also used with the
drive powered down, but when it was turned back on, the files were still
completely unaffected. Apparently, most companies nowadays shred hard
drives to physically destroy them, because magnets cannot be relied upon
to wipe data.
Do we need to worry about magnets?
At home you will be surrounded by magnets; they are in every
computer, speaker, TV, motor, smartphone, to name just a few
applications - modern life would simply not be possible
without them.
It seems that magnets have unfairly gotten a bad
press, but it's still important to exercise caution when wielding the
strongest magnets.
"Strong neodymium magnets aren't toys,"
explains Michael, "You may have read in the news about how recently,
some magnet toys were getting swallowed by very young kids. This is a
very, very serious health risk, since multiple magnets can attract to
one another through intestinal walls. We're talking peritonitis, which
means immediate surgery is required to remove them."
Source:
CNN
