Magnets, how do they work?

While at The Wife's chiropractor today he had a new gadget to try out, The Magnesphere. I want to dismiss it as nonsense but much of the other hokum and gobbledygook to come from him and the acupuncturist have ended up working so there is a part of me tempted to rent this contraption to try out. I just don't have the slightest idea what it does or why it should work. What are the magnets acting on and why should this help?

http://www.magneceutical.com/how_it_works.php

To answer the title, Richard Feynman explains.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjmtJpzoW0o

To answer the actual question, no idea, it's probably bullE36 M3.

Looks like the same principle as those magnets you put around your fuel line to align the ions and save fuel.

In reply to Wally:

I caught your ICP reference, Wally.

Wally wrote: http://www.magneceutical.com/how_it_works.php

So much quackery it makes my head hurt.

nderwater wrote:

Wally wrote: http://www.magneceutical.com/how_it_works.php

So much quackery it makes my head hurt.

Well, the story started with a chiropractor, so...

Placebo effect yo!

http://xkcd.com/1489/

They use (or claim to) an electromagnetic field to do this. Water molecules are slightly polar, or magnetically non symmetrical. Zap them with a strong enough field and they rotate to align with the field. Release the field and they more or less snap back into place. Of course like anything with mass they oscillate when they do that. This oscillation (resonance) is what we're measuring with MRI's. Great science and super useful. Using it for therapeutic reasons is quackery. If aligning the polar moments of the water did anything measurable, sending people into MRI's would be dangerous as hell.

Maybe you need Venus Flytrap to explain it to you (9:20)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAN-lnmPlm0

KyAllroad wrote: Placebo effect yo!

Seriously, the doctor may be attempting placebo therapy, don't interfere.

Edit: Oh if he's a "fixing your subluxations will cure your cancer" type of chiropractor, he probably honestly believes it will do something...but it could work as placebo therapy so give it a shot

Wait, if this is Bull E36 M3, then wouldn’t the validity of socks infused with the “power of real copper” be called into question as well?

RX Reven' wrote: Wait, if this is Bull E36 M3, then wouldn’t the validity of socks infused with the “power of real copper” be called into question as well?

I'd say they have the power to make meth-heads steal your socks

GameboyRMH wrote:

RX Reven' wrote: Wait, if this is Bull E36 M3, then wouldn’t the validity of socks infused with the “power of real copper” be called into question as well?

I'd say they have the power to make meth-heads steal your socks

would they find me up on blocks if they did?

I don't think magnets are as effective as pyramids.

Ya know, we used to joke about the "therapeutic MRI." You send someone through the scanner and they feel better when they come out. I've experienced it myself. Now, that was a 1 Tesla magnet, not some little office or home based thing.

There's also Laser therapy. I was really skeptical about it. They shoot an 8 watt IR laser at whatever hurts. However, I can tell you that it really does make whatever hurts feel better. And more than just an equivalent heat therapy. I am so impressed with the laser thing that I am seriously considering buying one of them, and they are priced like about 5 (used) to 10 (new) challenge cars.

In reply to Dr. Hess:

Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of medicine we use that we only sort of know how it works. The classic example is Electro Convulsive Therapy for severe depression. We've been using it a long time, and it for damn sure works (at least some of the time) but we're mostly guessing at why. It's not impossible that MRI's make people feel better, but the idea that we can tune the magnetic power and frequency based on some guys equation to suit your illness is crap. If it's happening, we're guessing at why.

I'm not disagreeing with you at all, mazdeuce. The laser thing I only mention as an example of something that I really thought was a waste of my time and sounded to me a lot like this magnet thing, but turned out to really help my thumb, broken by a dumb berkeley in a jeep when he totaled out my Elise with me in it. It is EPA approved therapy, for what that is worth. Is the magnet thing? Anyway, the theory on why the laser helps sounds a lot like BS to me (activates or whatever mitochondria) but I can't argue with the results.

ECT definitely works. I've seen that in person. I'm not real sure about a whole bunch of ECT helping versus damaging, but then to go with ECT, they were pretty damaged to start with. I've pointed out before some actor with major depression that got ECT'ed and now no longer has major depression and is doing something with their life: Trying to get ECT banned because he can't remember the 3rd grade anymore. Oh well. Can't win.

Dr. Hess wrote: I'm not disagreeing with you at all, mazdeuce. The laser thing I only mention as an example of something that I really thought was a waste of my time and sounded to me a lot like this magnet thing, but turned out to really help my thumb, broken by a dumb berkeley in a jeep when he totaled out my Elise with me in it. It is EPA approved therapy, for what that is worth. Is the magnet thing? Anyway, the theory on why the laser helps sounds a lot like BS to me (activates or whatever mitochondria) but I can't argue with the results. ECT definitely works. I've seen that in person. I'm not real sure about a whole bunch of ECT helping versus damaging, but then to go with ECT, they were pretty damaged to start with. I've pointed out before some actor with major depression that got ECT'ed and now no longer has major depression and is doing something with their life: Trying to get ECT banned because he can't remember the 3rd grade anymore. Oh well. Can't win.

wait... the Environmental Protection Agency is approving medical devices now?

they truly do have too much power..

EPA, FDA, whatever. Feds.

Not that an endorsement from a washed up game show host necessarily ensures snake oil status but it sure isn’t encouraging.

Does anybody know about this blinky light pain reliever called the Willow Curve…if I hack it to get twice the blinky lightness, will I get twice the pain relief?

So it is pretty much what I was thinking. I was not sure if I had missed anything. He's not normally into much nonsense like the ones that think they are healing cancer and such so thought maybe he was onto something here but it sounds like if this did anything it wouldn't be enough to justify spending money on it.