• Question: Do magnets work in space? And if you were to tie a magnet parallel to a piece of metal, would there be constant force between the two which would make them start to move even from a still position and accelerate forever?

    Asked by sammieblues to David, Luna, Mark, Melanie, Probash on 22 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: David Pyle

      David Pyle answered on 21 Mar 2011:

      Yes, magnetic fields can have effects in space (Earth’s magnetic field protects us from quite a lot of the solar wind, for example).

      As for your idea – I’m sure that if you moved a magnet in space, you could pull along something that is magnetic; but you can’t get something for nothing – so to keep the metal bar moving (rather than sticking to the magnet) you need something else to move the magnet.

    • Photo: Luna Munoz

      Luna Munoz answered on 21 Mar 2011:

      Magnets do work in space because their atoms are still arranged internally to attract metal. Their magnetic qualities have nothing to do with being on Earth. I’m not sure I understand your second question.

    • Photo: Melanie Stefan

      Melanie Stefan answered on 22 Mar 2011:

      You mean like a “magnetic planet”? I don’t know. Magnetism certainly works in space, but in your setup it would depend on a lot of other things. For instance, once the acceleration gets strong enough, I would expect the connection between the two parts to break. Also, it would certainly not go on forever, just like planetary motion does not go on forever.

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