Magnetism problem

[Rolfe]

I started at Glasgow in 73. I think it was all electric by then. I forgot you were using the Lanark line -what - eight years earlier?....

Correct.

You won't remember the sheer joy the day that trip suddenly dropped to 22 minutes (when some of my school journeys had been more like 45, I never want to see Holytown again), then even later probably about 1974 when they opened the Low Level at Central for the first time since the early 60s and suddenly me and my bicycle could go all the way to Westerton without changing.

But this was way later than the era of the watch-stopping.

Let's hear it for quartz movements!

Rolfe.

 

[Beanbag]

The point to remember is that for most cases, humans are blissfully unaware of the intensities of the magnetic fields that surround them. You'd never know if you had passed through a magnetic field strong enough to affect your watch unless it happened to be so strong that it actually started to pull the watch and your wrist toward one of the poles.

I had one customer whom I dealt with whose watch kept coming back every few months with poor rate and low balance amplitude. Usually, this indicates that the watch has been dropped or hit, but there were no marks on the case to indicate such. On a wild guess, I demagnetized the watch, and suddenly everything was back where it belonged. Checking the business card that was enclosed with the watch, I saw that the customer was the president and owner of a sound equipment company that provided public-address systems for rental to large functions. A quick conversation revealed that he was a hands-on kind of executive who almost always went out and helped with setup and breakdown, especially since it got him in for free to whatever concert had contracted his services. The large magnets in the PA loudspeakers were apparently doing a number on his watch, without him having any clue. Problem resolved.

Regards;
Beanbag

 

[Rolfe]

I couldn't say whether or not I was getting into that sort of field. If it was anything to do with the electric trains, I'd have thought enough people would have noticed watch trouble for some comment to be made. But who knows? It could have been something like that.

Rolfe.

 

[kookbreaker]

There was a time when I would kill a watch every six months.

Nothing mysterious about it, I was working as a museum demonstrator. My watch would get liquid nitrogen poured on it, I'd sweat doing shows, the watch would get banged against equipment, it would get exposed to a variety of harsh and no-ts-harsh chemicals. To top it off I would use tesla coils and Vande Graffs while wearing the watch.

A girlfriend gave me a watch for X-mas and it has held up ever since. Its gone through 8 watch bands and 3 batteries. But it surivived. Mind you, I left that job some time ago.

 

[Blondin]

The point to remember is that for most cases, humans are blissfully unaware of the intensities of the magnetic fields that surround them. You'd never know if you had passed through a magnetic field strong enough to affect your watch unless it happened to be so strong that it actually started to pull the watch and your wrist toward one of the poles.

Except in the case of MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). The human body is subjected to such a strong magnetic field in this process that the effect on the molecules of our tissue is measurable and that's what produces the image.

The subject is not blissfully unaware, either. When I had an MRI done I was not aware of any feeling at the time but for the next 2 weeks every time I got an erection I pointed North.

(This entire post was only created for the purpose of using an old joke)

 

[geni]

There was a time when I would kill a watch every six months.

Nothing mysterious about it, I was working as a museum demonstrator. My watch would get liquid nitrogen poured on it, I'd sweat doing shows, the watch would get banged against equipment, it would get exposed to a variety of harsh and no-ts-harsh chemicals. To top it off I would use tesla coils and Vande Graffs while wearing the watch.

A girlfriend gave me a watch for X-mas and it has held up ever since. Its gone through 8 watch bands and 3 batteries. But it surivived. Mind you, I left that job some time ago.

I discoveed that acetone and plasic watches don't mix (or rather they do that's the problem).