• Question: If someone had an EXTREMELY powerful magnet, would it attract the iron in our blood?

    Asked by to Anna, Elaine, Fiona, Kevin, Darren on 17 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Anna Bramwell-Dicks

      Anna Bramwell-Dicks answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      I’ve been doing some research into this, because I just didn’t know the answer but wanted to!

      And… the answer is possibly. The issue, is that the iron in our blood is inside the blood’s haemoglobin and so the iron atoms are not really concentrated enough for a magnet to have an effect. But, would an extremely powerful magnet have an effect? Then yes, I think possibly it could.

      I’m afraid this is probably a question better suited to someone more knowledgeable about blood and biology than me. But, in theory, I can’t see a reason why not.

      Thanks for the interesting question! Sorry I couldn’t answer it during the chat. One of the important things about being a scientist is knowing when you don’t know the answer and being able to say “actually, I don’t know…”

    • Photo: Zhiming Darren Tan

      Zhiming Darren Tan answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      You have stronger forces to worry about:
      http://www.ripleys.com/weird/uncategorized/the-science-of-levitating-frogs/

    • Photo: Elaine Cloutman-Green

      Elaine Cloutman-Green answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      No, iron can exist as atoms or ions – atoms don’t have an electrical charge while ions do. Iron atoms have a magnetic field while the ions don’t. The reason that this matters is that the iron in blood is part of molecules and in a molecule, atoms share electrons. They are not themselves balanced but have to share and so are ions rather than atoms. However, there are magnetic effects not related to the iron and if you search, you should be able to find video of a frog being levitated by a strong magnet. This uses an effect known as Direct diamagnetic levitation.

    • Photo: Kevin O'Dell

      Kevin O'Dell answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      I’m with Elaine on this. Apparently the Japanese have been doing some research on powerful magnets and their effects on the human body as they want to develop a magnetically levitated vehicle which will subject both passengers and crew to strong magnetic fields. For reason that I confess I don’t understand in detail, the human body (including the iron in your blood) doesn’t seem to have any ill-effects, even when you’re exposed to magnets that are powerful enough to affect the nails holding your posh shoes together.

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