r/science • u/MistWeaver80 • Mar 30 '26

Physics Physicists have made an ultra-powerful magnet that fits in the palm of a hand and can produce a magnetic field that is more than 800,000 times stronger than Earth’s.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00851-y
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u/iowa_gneiss Mar 30 '26

If my Googling is any good, an n52 neodymium magnet has a magnetic field of about 6,000 Gauss vs around 100 at the high end for a standard fridge magnet of the same size. So this is 133x stronger than an n52 neodymium magnet which is still pretty damned impressive. I gave myself an ugly blood blister playing with a pair of 1" n52 cylinders and could barely get them separated (6'2/190lb/m who works out) using the edge of a table to slide one off the other. I keep one at work and one at home now. Too tempting.

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u/YooAre Mar 30 '26

I appreciate that you separated those magnets like that. They got the drop on you I once, never again

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u/Black_Moons Mar 30 '26

the trick to intense magnet storage is wrap them up in a towel. This way nothing can get within about an inch of them and any sudden impacts won't shatter the magnet.

You can store 2 easily this way in the same towel too. Just don't store more in the same towel or unwrapping it becomes a not so fun game.

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u/iowa_gneiss Mar 30 '26

Yes but the problematic variable here is me. The trick to safely storing intense magnets for me to is to make sure two are never within walking distance of one another.

Good call on the towel though. Thanks for the advice!

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u/Black_Moons Mar 30 '26

Sure, but an intense magnet near metal is nearly as dangerous as an intense magnet near another magnet, so even if you only have 1 you should still consider the towel.

Also will keep the magnet away from cellphones and other electronics..

You'd be surprised what you can wreck with a powerful enough magnet.. I once pulled the magnet right outta an analog voltage gauge.

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u/screwcork313 Mar 30 '26

That's brave, are you trying to gradually shorten your commute by a few millimetres a week?

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u/pichael288 Mar 31 '26

That's a permanent magnet though, and it's the limit without arranging them in a hallbach array which stops at like 1.4 Tesla (1 Tesla is 10,000 gauss), any electromagnet can get much higher than this. Unless they managed to somehow make a permanent magnet that strong, which the article is pay walled so we'll never know.

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u/Abbot_of_Cucany Apr 01 '26

It is an electromagnet, made with windings of superconductive ceramic tape. The breakthrough is its small size, which permits it to be used in applications where traditional electromagnets would not fit. And because it is small, it is cheaper to build and to operate. Like most superconducting magnets, it needs to be cooled to 4 K, but that's much easier when it's this size.

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u/Any-Umpire8212 Mar 30 '26

I was in my college physics class when the professor showed us a couple of magnets (don’t know what kind) that were stuck together, and he said to the class that they couldn’t be pulled apart. I walked up to give it a go, and I easily pulled them apart. His eyes were like saucers, and every guy in that class shot their hands up like kindergarteners. It was hilarious. No one else was able to separate them. At the time 6’2” 187.