This isn’t a GQ, more a MPSIMS posted in the form of a question.
In the middle of a financial crisis, we finally start getting unemployment, it makes things just a little more manageable. We’re treading water, not hemorrhaging money.
Then the fridge dies. :smack:
So, six-months-same-as-cash later we have a Stainless Steel fridge.
Well, the front is stainless steel…and not StanelessSchteel™ or SilverLook™ or Staindlesssdteeel®
We give it the night to come down to temp, start loading it up, and I go to put SallyJaneJimbob*'s Magnetic Soccerphoto** on the front…and it slides to the floor.
I’m ambivalent, you could date the purchase of our old fridge by counting the rings of coupons, magnets, doctor’s appt reminders, Chinese Restaurant menus, and Campbells soup UPC clippings. I kinda don’t want to cover up the fresh, glisteny, stainless, surface <obsessive rub-rub of a new fingerprint>
But this is the most unexpected Scientific discovery I’ve made this week. What have YOU discovered this week?
= Not the rugrat’s real name
** = Not the rugrat’s real sport
Is it that it is not magnetic or that it is not thick enough to “grab” the magnet? I know that on the crime/burglary episode of Mythbusters, they Jamie tried to use huge magnets to climb up the inside of some duct work, but the metal was just not thick enough for the magnet to grab onto - there wasn’t enough metal.
ETA - my scientific discovery of the week is that wheel cleaner (you know like for cleaning your car wheels) will kill the top layer of skin on your hand and make it flake off. You should probably wear gloves.
Somewhat geeky reason, 300 series stainless steels are alloys with varying percentages of chromium and nickel with an austenitic and therefore non-magnetic structure.
400 series stainless sometimes called “chromium irons” with no nickel are most often martensitic and magnetic. Some grades in the series are “cosmetic” in the sense they take a polish and resist ambient corrosion. They are cheaper and common in car parts and appliances.
No, most stainless steels arent at all magnetic. Even if they’re too thin to support the weight of a large magnet, thin magnetic substances will still support small ones, or will themselves stick to magnets. But most stainless steels will essentially ignore your magnet. So you can’t put those “ribbon” stickers on the trunk of your DeLorean.
My husband works for the National Kitchen and Bath Association, so we usually end up with a copy of their magazine one way or another (usually because he wrote an article that issue).
According to the last issue, stainless steel is the current standard in kitchen renovations, but it’s slowly losing popularity due to people with children discovering the magnet issue (and fingerprints).
I discovered this in a publicly embarrassing way. I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but apparently I was asleep the day we discussed the magnetic properties of austenitic stainless steels in our Materials class. So, I graduated and went to work for an engineering/construction company that built large structures made of steel plate (think oil storage tanks, refinery components and the like).
One of my responsibilities as the new, wet-behind-the-ears field engineer was to lay out the various fittings and things that go into and onto the tanks. I would often employ a 100’ steel tape measure and a rather strong magnet. The magnet would hold the end of the tape while I took the other end and made my various marks on the steel designating the locations of various other pieces of steel.
One particular job I was assigned to included a tank for storing de-ionized water. Said tank was made of austenitic stainless steel. So, once the bottom ring of steel was up, I headed out to do my thing. The foreman (crusty old ex-welder) saw me leave the office trailer with my tape, marker, and magnet, and asked me where I was going. When I told him I was headed out to the water tank to mark it, he just got up from his chair (which was a bit unusual in itself) and said, “I gotta see this.” I went to the tank, found the “zero” point, put the tape and magnet against the steel, and watched with what must have been a hilariously puzzled look on my face as the magnet dropped straight to the ground. The foreman laughed his ass off, and then proceeded to give me a better, more practical lecture on the differences between various grades of stainless steel than I ever got in school.
The one saving grace in all this was that I didn’t have much of an ego about being the “Engineer” on the job site. I learned early on in the field that they didn’t need me around; I was out there for my education, not because I was going to contribute much beyond a warm body to the job.