# Doctors, Physicists, would this murder method actually work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2016, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-physicists-would-this-murder-method-actually-work/760540 "2016-07-21T23:11:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2016, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-physicists-would-this-murder-method-actually-work/760540/21 "2016-07-23T12:12:08Z")
Levitation and induction heating: what a fluctuating magnetic field can do to a non-ferrous (but electrically conductive) metal: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Q6Zrnv4OtbU/hqdefault.jpg "induction heater levitation melting aluminum") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Zrnv4OtbU) ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2016, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-physicists-would-this-murder-method-actually-work/760540/22 "2016-07-23T22:24:57Z")
Go ahead and use it anyway. Murders in novels aren’t written under oath. It’ll sound plausible enough to the average person, especially in a dark comedy. Get gruesome with the details. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-physicists-would-this-murder-method-actually-work/760540/23 "2016-07-23T22:36:48Z")
> [@DeptfordX](#): > > Go ahead and use it anyway. Murders in novels aren’t written under oath. It’ll sound plausible enough to the average person, especially in a dark comedy. Get gruesome with the details. I hate this. This attitude is why potentially fabulous movies like _Prometheus_ turn out so crap. Phenomenal special effects, huge budget, why couldn’t they hire a few impoverished scientists for a few tens of thousands to fact check their storyline? It was utterly incoherent and nonsensical for anyone with even a modicum of scientific knowledge. It takes so little effort to make storylines scientifically plausible and reasonable with no impact on the drama. Shouldn’t it be a matter of pride for authors that we don’t just throw incoherent nonsense in there simply because most of the audience won’t know the difference? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-physicists-would-this-murder-method-actually-work/760540/24 "2016-07-23T22:41:51Z")
For what it’s worth, my daughter got the elementary-school homework assignment of trying out a magnet on various objects and writing down her findings; the next day at school, hands went up – or didn’t – as the teacher asked about each item they’d tested; my kid was the only one who raised her hand for “coin”. The teacher good-naturedly accused her of not having done her homework. My daughter pulled out a Brazilian centavo and demonstrated. I’m raising a vindicated smart-ass. (Sorry; a _future Doper._) ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-physicists-would-this-murder-method-actually-work/760540/25 "2016-07-24T12:28:30Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > I hate this. This attitude is why potentially fabulous movies like _Prometheus_ turn out so crap. Phenomenal special effects, huge budget, why couldn’t they hire a few impoverished scientists for a few tens of thousands to fact check their storyline? It was utterly incoherent and nonsensical for anyone with even a modicum of scientific knowledge. It takes so little effort to make storylines scientifically plausible and reasonable with no impact on the drama. Shouldn’t it be a matter of pride for authors that we don’t just throw incoherent nonsense in there simply because most of the audience won’t know the difference? You know, you probably can’t bring down a hot air balloon with a bow and arrow either. He want’s to write a modern take on Kind hearts and Coronets. Let it go. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-physicists-would-this-murder-method-actually-work/760540/26 "2016-07-24T15:52:30Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > For what it’s worth, my daughter got the elementary-school homework assignment of trying out a magnet on various objects and writing down her findings; the next day at school, hands went up – or didn’t – as the teacher asked about each item they’d tested; my kid was the only one who raised her hand for “coin”. > > The teacher good-naturedly accused her of not having done her homework. > > My daughter pulled out a Brazilian centavo and demonstrated. > > I’m raising a vindicated smart-ass. > > (Sorry; a _future Doper._) 🙂 It’s the “vindicated” part that in GQ permits the smart-assery. We’ve got our standards. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-physicists-would-this-murder-method-actually-work/760540/27 "2016-07-24T16:29:55Z")
If they’re going in the next day, won’t they have already excreted any iron that wasn’t absorbed, anyway? I guess it’s possible somebody would go straight from a birthday party to an MRI, but that seems a bit unusual, too. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-physicists-would-this-murder-method-actually-work/760540/28 "2016-07-24T16:47:46Z")
> [@](#): > > If they’re going in the next day, won’t they have already excreted any iron that wasn’t absorbed, anyway? It usually takes several days for ingested items to work their way through the digestive tract. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-physicists-would-this-murder-method-actually-work/760540.md?page=1)