World's Strongest Magnetic Field Is Demonstrated

lazarus_ writes "PORTLAND, Ore. -- Researchers at Florida State University's National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee achieved the holy grail of magnetism recently when their high-temperature superconductor attained the coveted 25-Tesla field strength record."

Comments

Don't connect ohmmeters to superconducting magnets

[G4from128k]

I worked at a place about 17 years ago that was using a superconducting magnet (3-5 T) and the "owners manual" expressly forbade attaching an ohmmeter to the magnet coil to see if the coil had become cold enough to superconduct. The problem was that at even low milliampere currents, the coil could store about as much energy as a photographic flash capacitor. Disconnecting the ohmmeter could create a nasty zap and possibly create a damaging arc inside the coil.

The field was quite fun if you didn't care about your credit cards. You could feel the eddy current drag on a penny if you moved it in the field and copper rings would fall in slow motion.

Ah! The good old days!

Good journalism at work

[krysith]

The article, in addition to being a dupe , also calls the director of the NHMFL "Jeff Crow". Last time I talked to him, his name was Jack.