How could we generate electricity if magnets didn't work?

To get back to the OP, the answer really is - you can’t have one without the other. You could switch to other ways to transmit energy, say hydraulics. And engineers could find ways to utilize this energy to provide useful functions. But it wouldn’t be electricity, any more than pressure is a volt. You could call it that, but it doesn’t make it so. To refer to my previous post, If gravity stopped, but living things still clumped together, would that still properly be referred to as “gravity”?

Or you could eliminate relativity. I think that would allow electric field to exist but not magnetic field?

Magnetism/electricity both arise from the charge and current of the electron. It can’t be separated. To create electricity would intrinsically create a corresponding magnetic field. It doesn’t matter how you got the electricity, magnetism will result (or vise-versa).

It would be like asking “How far could a car travel, if time ceased to exist?” Space and time are two aspects of the same thing. As it is with both matter/energy and electricity/magnetism.

Just go with the approximations that circuit designers work with. Without the magnetic field you loose inductors, motors, AC current and pretty much every power supply currently in use and radio.

And, for that matter, we wouldn’t be able to see jack-shit. However, it would mean saying goodbye to the electron, so I think being effectively blind would be the least of our worries.

Shuffle my feet on the carpet and touch unsuspecting hypothetical poseurs. Shocking, I know, but someone needs to be charged for this crime to happen. Resistance is futile. Anyone who tries to impede me will hear my mantra: “ohm”. I will have them attacked with a rabid farad. Watt’s so bad about that? Don’t have the capacitance for puns? That really hertz. Like a volt outta the vlue. What is the frequency Kenneth? All these re-cycled 60 times per second.

That’s the definition of ‘electric motor’, but I don’t believe it’s correct to say that the unqualified term ‘motor’ automatically and exclusively means ‘electric motor’… so… Cite please?

The ability to generate power would be severely curtailed, but so would the demand. How much of our current capacity goes to things like electric motors that would also become useless?

Well… I suppose the OP question could be reformulated this way in order to allow for meaningful answers :

Let’s suppose that a major religious taboo prevents us from using magnets and electro-magnets. Magnetic fields are holy and can’t be used for profane purposes, and sacred magnets should be left untouched lest the gods will be pissed off.

Pushing electricity down a wire generates a magnetic field (or maybe the other way around, depending your point of view). I don’t think there’s any way to coherently formalise this scenario without also precluding most of the uses for electricity.

That’s not to say it’s not worth discussing, only that the hypothetical is too delicate to withstand being unpicked.

If magnetic fields don’t work, we’re all dead, aren’t we? I mean, solar radiation would do for us even if our bodies still worked (not sure what the magnetic component is to nerve conduction - I know it’s primarily electrochemical in origin, but transmission?)

It’s sort of insane to think of all the commonly used words that are just flat out incorrect simply because one guy on the Internet decided he doesn’t want to qualify electric motors with the adjective electric anymore. Motor oil… Motor boat… motorcycle… General Motors.

Batteries. Solar Cells.

Anyone mentioned fuel cells?

On the minus side, generating electricity will be much harder to do.

On the plus side, we won’t need so much electricity since so many of our things won’t work anymore. The only household items I can think of that will straight up work are heaters and lights.

I agree. If you know anything at all about electromagnetism (hint: it’s one word), then the question is what would happen if you could change the laws of physics but everything still existed as is? There is no such thing as “magnetism” separate and apart from “electricity”.

From Merriam-Webster:

I guess I’m a little surprised to see your claim. Do you have a cite for it?

Leaving aside the magnetic field vs. the electromagnetic field, I don’t know if it really matters to most of humanity if we can create electricity or not. Given the current state of technology, there wouldn’t be enough time to develop alternatives quickly in order to prevent mass starvation and all the rest of the doomsday scenarios. (Although I presume we would get lucky and avoid the zombies.)

Having zero transportation (technically, it would be 0.001% of today’s capacity or so, once you got all the horses harnessed up) as you kiss your cars, planes, trains, ships and all else good bye.

Life support is gone, of course, medication will go as soon as the inventory at the local drug store is gone. Anything requiring refrigeration is toast. All communication is shot. Internet, phones, faxes, satellite up links.

Lack of food supplies will be the first major killer. Fortunately those out there will their several thousand rounds will last longer than those without.

I’ve always been particular to fresh water, so that will be a real bite to miss that.

Once mass starvation / thirst starts to take its toll, then the disease will start to increase. Cities aren’t going to be centers of fun.

I wonder what percent of the population will survive the first six months. Farmers should fare better than most, with the added bonus of fewer marauding bikers.

So, the problem is how to build completely new infrastructure with extremely limited access to material or energy.

Such a contraption would be a doomsday device, since it would eliminate the magnetosphere. How long would it take for the solar wind to wipe away our atmosphere?

It’s started.

If I recall correctly, John Galt invented a device to generate electricity directly from the static electricity in the atmosphere. Its only drawback is that it is completely fictional, but other than that, it should do the trick.

Also, as an engineer, I hear the term “motor” used for all manner of prime movers, including internal combustion engines. “Damn this traffic jam. It’s hurtin’ my motor to go so slow…”