This Nite Ize Steelie Car Phone Mount uses magnets to mount your phone, but is it secure? Image used with permission of the copyright holder. I’ve always been extremely paranoid about magnets getting close to my electronics. I have visions of a warping screen, precious files disappearing into the ether, and my smartphone shutting down forever.
When my son recently received some magnets as a gift, it only took an hour before he waved them close enough to my phone that I felt compelled to take them away. Now they’re gathering dust on the forbidden shelf, along with a glow ball and fake dog poo.
But as I held them in toy limbo, I wondered if my fear was irrational. Do magnets actually pose a terrifying risk to our devices, and where did we get the idea that they are dangerous in the first place? Let’s see.
“This more than likely stems from old electronic devices, such as CRT monitors and TVs, which were sensitive to magnetic fields,” explains Matt Newby of first4magnets, “When you put a strong magnet near one of these, you could distort the image. Fortunately, modern TVs and monitors are not sensitive in this way.”
Most modern electronics, such as our smartphones, will not be adversely affected by small magnets; but is that all?
How do magnets affect smartphones?
“The vast majority of magnets you encounter every day, even the super-strong ones on the market, will not have a negative effect on your smartphone,” says Matt, “In fact, inside the device will be a series of very small magnets that perform important functions. For example, the new Apple Watch uses a magnetic inductive wireless charging system.”
However, before you get carried away and start rubbing magnets on your smartphone, there is something else to consider. Matt warned that magnetic fields can temporarily interfere with the digital compass and magnetometer inside your smartphone, and it’s more serious than you might think.
Engineers at K&J Magnetics actually experimented with the iPhone to show how a magnet could affect the sensors inside it.
iPhones can measure magnetic fields
“The problem we found is that a nearby magnet will affect the internal magnetic sensors inside the phone. The compass doesn’t read correctly,” explained Michael Paul, an engineer at K&J. “Worse, if you stick a strong magnet on the phone, you could slightly magnetize some of the steel components inside, causing them to act like weak magnets. This can make it difficult to properly calibrate the compass.”
You might think it’s unimportant because you never use the compass app, but that doesn’t mean other apps don’t rely on the same sensor. Google Maps, for example, uses the sensor to detect which way the phone is facing, and many games also rely on it to determine your orientation.
Magnets are unlikely to destroy your smartphone, but there is a possibility that they will spoil some very important aspects.
This is something that Apple takes into account in the design of cases and accessories. In Apple’s case design guidelines, there are sections on sensor considerations and magnetic interference, including the line “Apple recommends avoiding the use of magnets and metal components in cases.”
Manufacturers must ensure that their housings do not affect the built-in magnetic compass. The iPhone 6 Plus also gets a special mention, due to the potential problems magnets can cause for the rear camera with autofocus and optical image stabilization.
It seems like magnets probably won’t kill your smartphone, but there’s definitely a chance they’ll mess up some pretty important aspects, so why take the risk?
What about hard drives?
The idea that magnets can erase hard drives is quite popular, especially in the entertainment world. Walter White infamously used a massive electromagnet to try to erase evidence from a hard drive Breaking Bad, for example. Are our fears about magnets erasing hard drives also based on old technology?
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“Magnetically recorded data can also be damaged by the use of magnets – including things like cassettes, floppy disks, VHS and credit cards,” says Matt, “If the data is magnetically recorded, it’s possible to damage it with magnets.” Okay, but where does this leave Walter White and his hard drive?
“It’s theoretically possible that an incredibly strong magnet could corrupt a hard drive if it were to wipe directly across the surface of the drive,” explains Matt, “However, hard drives include neodymium magnets in them to control the read/write arm and record data, so again, on they won’t be affected by standard-sized magnets. If you were to stick magnets on the outside of your PC tower, for example, it wouldn’t have any effect on the hard drive.”
There’s even better news if you have a flash or solid state drive. “Flash drives and SSDs are not really affected by a strong, static magnetic field,” according to Michael.
Engineers at K&J actually tried using neodymium magnets to destroy a hard drive, but the results were disappointing. They placed large magnets on either side of the hard drive in the drive until mechanical rubbing sounds were heard, which meant the magnets were bending the internals. Despite this, the files on the disk remained 100 percent intact.
Larger magnets were also used when the drive was turned off, but when it was turned back on, the files were still completely unchanged. Apparently, most companies today destroy hard drives to physically destroy them, because magnets can’t be trusted to erase data.
Should we worry about magnets?
“You’ll be surrounded by magnets at home – they’re in every computer, speaker, TV, motorbike, smartphone, to name a few applications,” says Matt, “Modern life simply wouldn’t be possible without them.”
Magnets seem to have been unfairly given a bad rap in the media, but it’s still important to be careful when handling the strongest magnets.
“Strong neodymium magnets are not toys,” explains Michael, “You may have read in the news recently about very young children swallowing some magnetic toys. This is a very, very serious health risk, as multiple magnets can be attracted through the intestinal walls. We are talking about peritonitis, which means immediate surgery is needed to remove them.”
Maybe I’ll leave those magnets on the forbidden shelf after all.
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Source: newstars.edu.vn