High-Density Magnets Created

Judebert writes: "University of California, Riverside scientists have created diradical magnets: magnetic particles that have two unbonded electrons instead of just one. The problem with diradical substances is that they have always been extremely chemically active, so they never stayed around longer than a few microseconds at room temperature. The new substance is stable at room temperature, even when it's in solution. And it's not even metallic. This paves the way for newer, higher-density magnetic and magneto-optical media and devices. You can help distribute the load if you visit the text mirror instead."

Comments

Re:car parts

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's see. All the analog displays in your dash have magnets. Tach, speedo, ..anything with a needle. Alternator, starter, various motors, speakers. Also magnets that measure the rpm of various mechanical bits via magnets and sensor that rely on the Hall effect.

And those are all permanent magnets. If you gifure in electromagnets, there's probably one in any circuit of any size in the form of relays, chokes, coils, solenoids, sensors. I think 300 is a reasonable number.

Re:car parts

[teridon]

In some cars, the oil/tranmission drain plug is magnetic. Some transmissions have a magnet in the fluid pan to catch metal filings. Most cars have radios, and thus speakers with magnets.

Re:car parts

[3waygeek]

Here's a few -- alternator, solenoids on power door locks, motors on power windows, fan motors.

Re:Ummm no

[Veramocor]

Oxygen has 6 valence electrons. lets draw one of those nifty electron valence shell models. Each dot is an electron.

.
:O.
..

Oxygen "wants" a complete electron shell so it forms a double bond with another oxygen, each sharing its 2 unpaired electrons.

O=O

no radicals there.

Veramocor

Re:Ummm...

[ndevice]

i'm not a chemist, but:

reading from the article, they seem to say that diradicals like O2 are already bonded and not very magnetic. I remember the LOx and magnet demonstration in chemistry class, and it wasn't that impressive. What these guys have done is find a molecule/compound that doesn't bond (and doesn't lose the magnetic effects of being a diradical)

anyway, quoting from the article:

Several research groups worldwide have shown that materials based on "diradicals" will be even more magnetically active. In a diradical, two atoms, which are close to each other, have electrons ready to form a bond. And indeed, the difficulty is that usually the bond is formed, resulting in no magnetism.

Re:Better Magnets == Better Cars

[TwP]

The force (or power) an electric motor can generate is directly proportional to the current going through the motor and the strength of the magnetic field. If the magnetic field is stronger, you can have a motor of the same size but with more power. Or you could have a motor of the same size and power, but it would consume less current. This would give you a longer battery life.

For cars, you could now have more powerful electric motors that consume the same amount of power as current electric motors. Or you could have electric motors with the same power output of todays models but with a lower power consumption.

Stronger magnets make for more effecient electric motors. You can use that efficiency for greater power or greater battery life.