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Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: ranger on 11/09/2012 20:39:04

Title: Are foreheads magnetic?
Post by: ranger on 11/09/2012 20:39:04
Hello,
My daughter showed me trick with a bottle cap -- any piece of metal will do -- which can remain indefinitely stuck, vertically, to a certain point on one's forehead. This is not because the forehead is a sticky, adhesive sort of place to be: the cap won't stick in all places and, when it does stick, one feels a definite magnetic "pull". I have read that this is due to electromagnetic energy going on inside, but can this be confirmed?
Thanks in advance for your answers.
Title: Re: Are foreheads magnetic?
Post by: chris on 11/09/2012 21:40:48
I think it's more likely that what you are doing is finding a spot on the forehead that offers the flattest skin and then, pressing the bottle cap against it you achieve a vacuum seal against the skin. The "pull" you're feeling is the air pressure pushing the cap onto the skin. You could try confirming it's not magnetism by repeating the test with a plastic (i.e. non-magnetic) lid. I suspect you'll see the same result.

Chris
Title: Re: Are foreheads magnetic?
Post by: ranger on 12/09/2012 09:11:35
Thanks for the quick answer, Chris. However I have had no success with plastic (or aluminium) caps, and, to be on the safe side, I have just tested the phenomenon with a paperclip -- which will not be vacuum sealable of course -- and it still remains in the same spot, where the bottle cap was...
Title: Re: Are foreheads magnetic?
Post by: RD on 12/09/2012 09:17:48
Maybe "ranger" is related to this guy ...

(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F_Ee5MXpRtZjA%2FSjlQl-AITQI%2FAAAAAAAAAlw%2FJr2F0CIKdAo%2Fs400%2FLiew%2BThow%2BLin.jpg&hash=e539122a7832a7080488c99747152a29)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liew_Thow_Lin


Title: Re: Are foreheads magnetic?
Post by: ranger on 12/09/2012 09:19:49
Hmm... Ranger's just my name. Though the link certainly gives ideas for new career directions, a family act, maybe.  ;)
Title: Re: Are foreheads magnetic?
Post by: chris on 12/09/2012 17:23:57
What you can't see is the sign behind the bloke above saying "Araldite Factory" - he's the cleaner and he's just stuck himself to the window...
Title: Re: Are foreheads magnetic?
Post by: JP on 12/09/2012 18:54:50
You could test it by putting a paperclip in a bowl of water and moving your forehead near it.  Or by putting a magnetic compass on a table and putting your forehead near it. 

The results of a head scan in an MRI might be 'interesting' if humans did indeed have significant magnetism in their foreheads...
Title: Re: Are foreheads magnetic?
Post by: RD on 13/09/2012 03:01:28
Quote
Liew's ability is not due to any source of magnetism. Scientists from Malaysia's University of Technology found no magnetic field in Lin's body, but did determine that his skin exhibits very high levels of friction
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liew_Thow_Lin

So not magnetism. Painted hammers stick to Mr Liew , so that seems to rule out the metal catalysing a reaction in the skin, unless the skin was primed by contact with bare metal just prior to the hammers being applied.

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There are chemical reactions when metal touches skin ... http://www.bioedonline.org/news/news.cfm?art=2879