Building a Magnetic HEart

Question

Building a Magnetic HEart

MarcCo (Civil/Environmental)

(OP)

15 Oct 11 12:52

I'm an artist, currently based in Montreal, and I'm working on an urban installation that involves magnets.
The concept is I want to build a big heart (around 3 meters height/ 2 meters length/1 meter depth) that has a big attraction power.
The attraction will be the work of magnets, so it will be like a magnetic heart. The name of the piece is 'Hang on to my heart' and the idea is to experience the attraction force when moving close to the heart, (through metal objects within us)
To have the strongest possible attraction power, I've been told it is best to use electromagnet that would be placed inside the heart, I want the force to be felt from both sides.
Since my knowledge in magnets and engineering in general is pretty limited, I need help from people who know how this stuff works.

1.What is the best magnet or electro magnet that should be put inside the heart to have maximum attraction force + practicality?

2.Where or how can i find this or these magnets?

I'm thinking of maybe create a smaller version for a start to experiment with the concept and get it right.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, if anyone would be interested to collaborate on this project, I"m open to that too.

marc,,,

IRstuff (Aerospace) · Answer 1 · 2011-10-15 13:21:53

I would caution you that anything strong enough to attract bits of metal we carry is likely to be strong enough to wipe our credit card mag strips.

TTFN

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Compositepro (Chemical) · Answer 2 · 2011-10-15 14:45:06

Strong magnets are also very dangerous. Loose pieces of metal become projectiles.

MarcCo (Civil/Environmental) · Answer 3 · 2011-10-15 18:22:29

ok,
It's true that Wiping out credit cards though an interesting concept, is not the purpuse.
The purpuse is for people to feel smthng, an experience, it can be subtle but it has to be there, what would be a good balance?
Is strong magnet smthng really dangerous?

IRstuff (Aerospace) · Answer 4 · 2011-10-16 01:54:44

There's a reason why they don't want people to bring metal into an MRI.

TTFN

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RyreInc (Electrical) · Answer 5 · 2011-10-17 11:10:48

Very bad idea!

Besides all of the important issues raise above, the field strength varies dramatically depending on distance to the magnet.  There would be a narrow range where the force is strong enough to be felt but not so strong as to be overpowering/dangerous.  Said range would not even be consistent around the perimeter.  Anyone/thing inside of this range is within a large magnetic field, and is in danger of being injured by a stray projectile.

Do you think humans themselves are attracted to magnets? (actually weakly repelled)  Do you realize that many metals aren't attracted to magnets?

StoneCold (Chemical) · Answer 6 · 2011-10-17 14:08:04

Marco
You might have better luck with infra red heat. The people could feel a warming sensation coming from the heart. A magnetic field is not the way to go.

Regards
StoneCold

dgallup (Automotive) · Answer 7 · 2011-10-17 16:32:33

Get an 18" subwoofer in an appropriate cabinet and a heartbeat recording with enhanced subsonic content. They will feel it.

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mac2 (Electrical) · Answer 8 · 2011-10-18 11:35:02

You would also have to be concerned about people who have medical devices such as pace makers (etc), coming into range of the magnetic field. There could be some deadly consequences.

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