# Is it possible to have magnetic field so strong it would effect or harm a human being? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 4, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408 "2010-11-04T02:26:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/1 "2010-11-04T02:26:25Z")
Just curious. I know humans are not “magnetic” in any meaningful sense, but is there a point that a magnetic field becomes so strong it could effect a person biologically? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/2 "2010-11-04T02:29:43Z")
It’s my understanding that effecting a human is the basis for how an MRI machine works. Off the top of my head it aligns the dipoles in your body, then does something else and takes a picture. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/3 "2010-11-04T02:58:11Z")
In fact it vibrates the nucleii in the atoms in your body, thus its old name Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. But that has no biological effect on the human, which is the OP’s question. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/4 "2010-11-04T04:22:04Z")
Yes, there is certainly a point at which a strong enough magnetic field will cause harm to a human. According to this link, a [magnetar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetar) is capable of producing magnetic fields on the order of ten gigateslas (which are hundreds of thousands of times stronger than any man-made magnet). Upon further reading the link, the magnetic field of a magnetar would be lethal even at a distance as great as 1000 km, tearing tissues due to the diamagnetism of water. Atoms would also be greatly distorted–for example, a hydrogen atom would be elongated into a spindle shape 200 times narrower than its normal diameter in a field of 10 gigateslas. Unless you’re a [cheela](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_Egg), this can’t be healthy. P.S. I wonder if the magnetic field generated by a magnetar would be strong enough to rip the iron atoms out of the hemoglobin in a person’s blood. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/5 "2010-11-04T05:05:42Z")
[Transcranial magnetic stimulation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcranial_magnetic_stimulation) will totally mess with your head. It can be (and has been) used to temporarily stop specific parts of someone’s brain from working normally. Whether there are any long-lasting effects (bad or good) remains controversial. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/6 "2010-11-04T05:33:34Z")
> [@](#): > > P.S. I wonder if the magnetic field generated by a magnetar would be strong enough to rip the iron atoms out of the hemoglobin in a person’s blood. The magnetic field of a magnetar is so strong that the energy density in the field is much greater than that of any Earthly material. That is to say, if you took a cubic meter of lead and annihilated it with a cubic meter of antilead, the energy released would be significantly less than that in two cubic meters of the magnetic field. Now think of the kind of pressures needed to support something that dense, in a neutron star’s gravitational field. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/7 "2010-11-04T05:34:09Z")
A buddy of mine did his Ph.D. research on some applications of NMRI imagining. Sometimes they’d test stuff out on themselves because it was more convenient than getting a volunteer in. He said that if you move quickly through a strong field, it would make you dizzy or make your head hurt. That’s not major damage, but it’s an unpleasant effect. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/8 "2010-11-04T13:28:44Z")
Look what they did to Desmond on Lost. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/9 "2010-11-04T13:36:36Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > In fact it vibrates the nucleii in the atoms in your body, thus its old name Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. But that has no biological effect on the human, which is the OP’s question. Couldn’t vibrating the nucleii in the atoms in your body be considered having an ‘effect’ on a human being? ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/10 "2010-11-04T13:47:43Z")
There are readily available videos of frogs and spiders being levitated with man-made magnets. Just scale them up a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/11 "2010-11-04T13:57:27Z")
Gah! Would it AFFECT a human being. Would it have an EFFECT on a human being. The only thing that can effect a human being is combining a human sperm and a human egg. Unless we’re willing to believe that Jesus happened when Mary wandered too close to a magnetar. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/12 "2010-11-04T14:24:37Z")
In the comics, Magneto occasionally reversed the flow of someone’s blood (by grabbing the iron in their hemoglobin) to stun someone. In the movies, I believe he may have yanked the hemoglobin right out of someone’s body. ---
**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/13 "2010-11-04T22:27:40Z")
According to genius scientist Alex Chiu, [the answer is YES.](http://alexchiu.com/philosophy/handicap3.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/14 "2010-11-04T22:34:04Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > In the comics, Magneto occasionally reversed the flow of someone’s blood (by grabbing the iron in their hemoglobin) to stun someone. In the movies, I believe he may have yanked the hemoglobin right out of someone’s body. For the movie, not exactly. A guard was dosed with metal (into his bloodstream), and when he got close enough to Magneto, he was able to pull that metal back out. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/15 "2010-11-05T00:24:27Z")
Human brains (and cognition) are manipulated with magnetic fields during research because it is non-invasive and generally non-destructive. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/16 "2010-11-05T00:35:10Z")
Water is diamagnetic. I believe this means that is is repelled and distorted by a magnetic force although the magnetic force needs to be massive in order to have this affect (or the amount of water very tiny) which is why it’s not something you’ll notice with a common magnet. You can easily imagine then that a powerful enough magnetic field could rip a human apart. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamagnetism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamagnetism) ---
**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:** [November 5, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/17 "2010-11-05T01:21:54Z")
Human blood is electrically conductive (because it’s saline). So if the flow of blood crosses magnetic field lines, an electric current is generated. With a powerful enough field the flow of your own blood would interrupt your heart or brain. ---
**Author:** ![wbeaty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/439d5e/32.png) [@wbeaty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wbeaty)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/18 "2010-11-05T07:23:12Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Just curious. I know humans are not “magnetic” in any meaningful sense But we’re electrical conductors. There are supposed to be effects from induced currents while shaking your head around in a strong magnetic field. Oooo, the lights, the colors, the [Magnetophosphenes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetophosphene) ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/19 "2010-11-05T21:17:41Z")
“When magnetic fields were used in earlier research to disrupt electrical activity in this part of the brain, previously numerate volunteers temporarily developed discalculia, finding it much harder to solve maths problems.” > **[Home - BBC News](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news)** > > Visit BBC News for up-to-the-minute news, breaking news, video, audio and feature stories. BBC News provides trusted World and UK news as well as local and regional perspectives. Also entertainment, business, science, technology and health news. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408/20 "2010-11-05T22:08:32Z")
I’m pretty sure magnetic fields have never effected a human being. They may have had an effect on someone’s nuclei, however. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-magnetic-field-so-strong-it-would-effect-or-harm-a-human-being/559408.md?page=2)