# World Cup defeat from a magnetic field? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 24, 2002, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650 "2002-06-24T03:51:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/1 "2002-06-24T03:51:08Z")
[http://www.vnunet.com/news/1132719](http://www.vnunet.com/news/1132719) I’m wondering if anyone else has heard about this. I couldn’t find any other source to back any of it up, and frankly I’m not buying it. I mean, I had a little bit of EMF study in college, and though I am far from an expert, something like this would seem to be rather difficult to pull off given the endless variables and oppurtunity for something to go wrong. Not to mention the shear strength of a field that would likely be required to overcome the inertia (which is proportional to velocity squared, IIRC) of a soccer ball kicked at a goal. Also, due to spin on the ball, I don’t know of any soccer ball that will travel in a perfect parabola anyway. Maybe someone who saw the game or knows any more about this could shed some light. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/2 "2002-06-24T04:12:18Z")
Well, I don’t know anything about EMF, either, but I would think that a magnetic field that was strong enough to be beamed from somewhere under the stands at a very long distance towards a rather small soccer ball that was wrapped in a small amount of thin wire, would also have been strong enough to fry every minicam in the stadium. In other words, pfui. [\*Hey, Ivan, psssst–nobody likes a sore loser… \*] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/3 "2002-06-24T04:47:47Z")
Yeah, not to mention frying watches, pacemakers, hearing aids, etc. Although, it does present some interesting mental images about the havok that it could create. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/4 "2002-06-24T05:50:49Z")
Happy Frood, While I’m in the “not buying it for a minute” camp, Vnunet didn’t make it up. It was indeed in [Pravda](http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/06/13/30239.html), but while Pravda was once the tool of the government, it is now little more than a crappy tabloid. This week’s news included an article discussing whether or not Anna Kournikova has one or two vaginas. ---
**Author:** ![GeorgeAECF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9f8e36/32.png) [@GeorgeAECF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GeorgeAECF)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/5 "2002-06-24T08:10:52Z")
Man, those Eastern Europeans, eh? They just don’t know when to give up. And then, they wonder why no one believes them or takes them seriously. P.S. I am sure Anna Kournikova’s boyfriend hopes she has two vagina’s. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/6 "2002-06-24T09:52:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hoopy Frood \* > \*\*Yeah, not to mention frying watches, pacemakers, hearing aids, etc. > > Although, it does present some interesting mental images about the havok that it could create. \*\* To heck with _frying_ them…An ordinary MRI machine can levitate an 8 pound wrench, imagine what an electro magnet powerful enough to effect a soccer ball hundreds of feet away would do to something metalic a few FEET away…a pacemaker, for example. :eek: Lovely imagry, eh? Pleasant dreams! Ranchoth ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/7 "2002-06-24T11:26:16Z")
> [@](#): > > The heating apparently got the hackers confused because they believed there was no need for it in such a warm country as Japan. Yep, Japan is a tropical paradise. That’s why two Winter Olympics have been held there. > [@](#): > > He said that the new World Cup balls had a fine hexagonal incision of thin wire on them which could be seen by close-up cameras at the time. Have they actually seen a Fevernova ball? It’s just a design, for crying out loud. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/8 "2002-06-24T13:57:42Z")
“When they looked closer they worked out that the system was actually meant for creating a powerful electromagnetic current and field, the capacity of which varied from several variables that were coming from dozens of computers. Authorities are looking for one **Wiley E. Coyote** who is wanted for questioning.” ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/9 "2002-06-24T14:04:12Z")
Pravda is the same “news” paper responsible for a lot of ‘suitcase’ nuke hysteria, and for spreading the ‘EMP Gun’ chupacabras. They’re _just_ this side of being complete nutballs. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/10 "2002-06-24T18:18:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ranchoth \* > \*\* > Lovely imagry, eh? Pleasant dreams! > Ranchoth \*\* :rolleyes: When I went to school interesting \<\> lovely, not even approximately. All interesting things are not lovely, all lovely things are not interesting (though they tend to be). So keep your holier than thou statements to yourself please. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/11 "2002-06-24T19:22:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hoopy Frood \* > \*\*So keep your holier than thou statements to yourself please. \*\* **Hoopy** , I don’t think **Ranchoth** was being “holier than thou”, but rather extrapolating on the crowd effects you mentioned. If an MRI can lift a wrench, the hypothetical device might lift a pacemaker … clear out of someone’s chest\*. “Pleasant dreams” was sarcastic (because of the hypothetical nightmarish consequences), but the sarcasm wasn’t aimed at you. **mssmith** , you may laugh now, but ACME Inc. is slated to be FIFA’s official sports equipment provider for the 2006 World Cup. 🙂 [sub]\*I’m actually unsure as to whether or not this would happen. Due to the body’s high water content, the persons body itself may also be lifted, or pushed, or pulled, in such an intense magnetic field (I’ve seen a guy levitate a frog on the discovery channel the same way) and thus not be seperated from the pacemaker. Airborne spectators might also be an interesting mental image, though.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/12 "2002-06-24T19:33:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hoopy Frood \* > \*\*So keep your holier than thou statements to yourself please. \*\* **Hoopy** , I don’t think **Ranchoth** was being “holier than thou”, but rather extrapolating on the crowd effects you mentioned. If an MRI can lift a wrench, the hypothetical device might lift a pacemaker … clear out of someone’s chest\*. “Pleasant dreams” was sarcastic (because of the hypothetical nightmarish consequences), but the sarcasm wasn’t aimed at you. **mssmith** , you may laugh now, but ACME Inc. is slated to be FIFA’s official sports equipment provider for the 2006 World Cup. 🙂 [sub]\*I’m actually unsure as to whether or not this would happen. Due to the body’s high water content, the persons body itself may also be lifted, or pushed, or pulled, in such an intense magnetic field (I’ve seen a guy levitate a frog on the discovery channel the same way) and thus not be seperated from the pacemaker. Airborne spectators might also be an interesting mental image, though.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/13 "2002-06-24T22:07:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beeblebrox \* > \*_ **Hoopy** , I don’t think **Ranchoth** was being “holier than thou”, but rather extrapolating on the crowd effects you mentioned. If an MRI can lift a wrench, the hypothetical device might lift a pacemaker … clear out of someone’s chest_. “Pleasant dreams” was sarcastic (because of the hypothetical nightmarish consequences), but the sarcasm wasn’t aimed at you. > \*\* Ahhh…then I apologize for my overreaction. :o ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/14 "2002-06-25T02:14:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GeorgeAECF \* > \*\*P.S. I am sure Anna Kournikova’s boyfriend hopes she has two vagina’s. \*\* Ummm, why? Does he have two dicks? Is he seriously into threesomes? I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/15 "2002-06-25T02:48:53Z")
Maybe because when one of them has a headache, the other one might not? 😃 And as long as I’m here, I’d like to thank Ranchoth for the compelling mental imagery of a pacemaker being lifted out of Joe Soccerfan’s chest by a magnetic ray gun aimed at a soccer ball during the World Cup. In other words—“Ewwwww…” 😃 it’s a ridley scott moment no, i think it’s more a david cronenberg moment no, it’s actually austin powers on angel dust ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/16 "2002-06-25T02:55:22Z")
Ummm, **DDG** when women tell you that they have a headache _in their vagina_, I think maybe they’re just trying to avoid having sex with you. Sorry, but somebody had to tell you. ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/17 "2002-06-25T03:03:29Z")
For all the good reasons stated through this thread, the story is complete nonsense. It’s even such over-the-top nonsense that it doesn’t make an amusing tabloid story. I only wonder whether there actually _were_ some hackers that made up the story, or if Pravdca invented the hackers also. Probably the latter. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/18 "2002-06-25T13:31:57Z")
Princhester, I think DDG is a woman. She should _know_ where she has headaches. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/19 "2002-06-25T15:40:16Z")
> [@](#): > > This week’s news included an article discussing whether or not Anna Kournikova has one or two vaginas. I **demand** photographic evidence to either prove or disprove this! If Ms. Kournikova does indeed have two vaginas, it would be a crime against humanity to deny the medical establishment the opportunity of such a wonderful and rare thing. We _must_ have pictures, I say! ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650/20 "2002-06-25T22:43:03Z")
Well, OK then, sorry about that **DDG**. In that case let me put it this way: When you tell him that you have a headache in your vagina, he may politely give up, but actually, he didn’t believe you. Sorry, but someone had to tell you. That better? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-defeat-from-a-magnetic-field/115650.md?page=2)