# Scientists blow up their lab after creating strongest magnet ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 1, 2023, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-blow-up-their-lab-after-creating-strongest-magnet-ever/977448 "2023-01-01T04:02:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2023, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-blow-up-their-lab-after-creating-strongest-magnet-ever/977448/21 "2023-01-01T21:27:18Z")
Wait, he’s using a “Zajaxi” dynamo? Doesn’t Acme make dynamos? ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-blow-up-their-lab-after-creating-strongest-magnet-ever/977448/22 "2023-01-02T01:04:07Z")
Or we send Hercules after it and end it once and for all. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-blow-up-their-lab-after-creating-strongest-magnet-ever/977448/23 "2023-01-02T03:52:30Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Misleading headline. Not your fault, the article is bad too. They blew up their instrument, not their lab. I caught that, but decided to run with it since this wasn’t meant to be a serious thread. And it’s apparent from the article that the intent was to test to destruction so the only surprise was how much past 11 they had to crank it. Cool pics though. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-blow-up-their-lab-after-creating-strongest-magnet-ever/977448/24 "2023-01-02T04:17:49Z")
Yeah, great pics. Bet it sounded great too. Sorry I sounded abrupt. That may have come off as abrasively dismissive. If so, that was an oops. Speaking of “how much past 11” I’ll offer this little gem in atonement: **[Hair Dryer (xkcd.com)](https://what-if.xkcd.com/35/)** ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-blow-up-their-lab-after-creating-strongest-magnet-ever/977448/25 "2023-01-02T04:33:44Z")
No worries. I didn’t take your post as anything other than an observation. But I’ll always take some xkcd. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-blow-up-their-lab-after-creating-strongest-magnet-ever/977448/26 "2023-01-02T05:29:46Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Look, my magnetic field strength calculations were correct. It wasn’t my fault that Renaldo overcharged the capacitor bank. > > Stranger Fucking Reynaldo!?! AGAIN!?!?!?! ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-blow-up-their-lab-after-creating-strongest-magnet-ever/977448/27 "2023-01-02T15:59:03Z")
You’ll get that on them big jobs. Lay off Renaldo. I’m putting my money on [Ricky. NSFW language](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gwa-KErbYJ8). ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-blow-up-their-lab-after-creating-strongest-magnet-ever/977448/28 "2023-01-02T19:12:16Z")
Maybe they should’ve used a flux capacitor. They’re pretty cheap: [https://www.amazon.com/flux-capacitor/s?k=flux+capacitor](https://www.amazon.com/flux-capacitor/s?k=flux+capacitor) ---
**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:** [January 3, 2023, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-blow-up-their-lab-after-creating-strongest-magnet-ever/977448/29 "2023-01-03T23:57:22Z")
Many of the strongest magnets explode, not because they’re pushed beyond their limits (intentionally or otherwise), but because that’s how they’re designed to work: You start by building a more-or-less conventional high-strength magnet, then you pack a bunch of explosives around it, and then you implode the whole thing to squeeze the field lines closer to each other. As an added bonus, the skills and expertise needed to do this sort of work are very similar to those used for building nuclear bombs, so it’s a way to make sure that ex-pat second-world nuclear scientists and engineers have gainful employment, so they’re not as tempted by not-so-gainful employment. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-blow-up-their-lab-after-creating-strongest-magnet-ever/977448/30 "2023-01-04T00:39:29Z")
Is there a theoretical maximum strength a physical magnet could achieve? Along the lines of a frictionless surface or a perfect mirror? ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-blow-up-their-lab-after-creating-strongest-magnet-ever/977448/31 "2023-01-05T03:13:58Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > So how many of them got superpowers? It turned them into pole dancers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-blow-up-their-lab-after-creating-strongest-magnet-ever/977448.md?page=1)