What Are Electromagnetic Fields?
Everything from your doorbell, to your hard drive, to the most futuristic trains around make use of electromagnets. These little miracles the electromagnetic fields they generate are crucial components in vast swathes of the tech we use every day. That’s not all, either, more and more uses are found for them every day. Who knows what we could be using them for in the future?
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. To paraphrase a great philosopher: electromagnets, how do they work?
Join us as we delve deep into the Earth’s magnetic field, EMFs, and the electromagnetic spectrum and give you the low-down on electromagnetic fields and their applications.
What Are Electromagnetic Fields?
Magic.
Okay, not really, but these magnetic fields are a set of invisible but unavoidable forces that govern much of our natural and scientific world.
They are both electric and magnetic fields and they are produced by all sorts of different phenomena. For example, the Earth’s magnetic field is an example of such a field that is generated by purely natural means. But they’re also generated electrically by human activity. Mobiles, power lines, even your TV all kick out some kind of electromagnetic field.
They may be invisible, but they can be measured. You can detect electromagnetic fields around your home or workplace through the use of an EMF detector like this Trifield. That’s pretty lucky, since errant EMF can sometimes interfere with devices that rely on wireless signals.
What Can Electromagnetic Fields Be Used For?
Entire sectors of the modern industrial economy and our computer-based lifestyles wouldn’t be possible without electromagnetic fields. Your hard drive, your car motor, even train journeys might not work if electromagnets were to suddenly disappear from the Earth.
For example, microwaves make heavy use of electromagnetic fields to do their important work of heating up your food. If your kitchen microwave wasn’t able to take advantage of the electromagnetic spectrum to do its work, you’re be stuck eating cold food whenever you opened the fridge for leftovers.
Truly, a fate too foul to comprehend.
Medical science, too, is heavily influenced by electromagnetic fields. MRI machines, or magnetic resonance imagers, use electromagnetic fields to see into parts of the body that can’t otherwise be penetrated by things like X-Rays.
And that’s also why you really, really shouldn’t get into an MRI machine if you have any metallic implants or you’re still wearing implants. That’s a recipe for disaster with a magnet that powerful.
Electromagnets Are All Around Us
So there you have it, a brief guide to the wonderful world of electromagnetic fields. Whether you’re a trainspotter, a screen-teen, or just someone who couldn’t live without their microwave, you’ve got a lot to thank these omnipresent scientific wonders for.
So get out there and learn more about them!
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