Magnet at national lab generates largest magnetic pulse

Oct. 6, 2011
Magnet at national lab generates largest magnetic pulse

Resources:
Los Alamos National Laboratory

It might not look like much, but the electromagnet at the Pulsed Field Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory set a record when it generated a 97.4-tesla field without destroying itself in the process. (High-powered magnets routinely rip themselves apart due to the large forces they create.) For comparison, the magnetic field of the Earth is about 0.0004 T, the field of a junkyard magnet measures 1 T, and magnets in MRI machines generate 3 T.

The Los Alamos magnet will let researchers from around the world explore the properties and quantum nature of materials.

© 2011 Penton Media, Inc.

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