beamjockey: Drawing of Bill of the Heterodyne Boys by Phil Foglio. (Default)
beamjockey ([personal profile] beamjockey) wrote2011-05-30 09:19 pm

Magnetism and Its Humours

Over on [livejournal.com profile] brotherguy's blog, he mentioned a transoceanic interview where the journalist heard a word different from the one Guy thought he'd pronounced:

when the author refers to my work measuring "meteorites and their physical properties, including density and magnetic ferocity..."

There are so many oddly-named properties associated with magnetism that the existence of "ferocity" would not surprise me.

Reluctance. Flux. Permeance. Intrinsic moment. Inductive reactance.* Hysteresis. Barkhausen jumps. And what my Finnish E&M professor kept referring to as "suskeptibility."

It all sounds like a medieval physician wrestling with a difficult diagnosis.




* Accompanied by the fabulous Frequency-Reactance Nomograph, which might make a nice pattern for a kilt.

(Promoted from [livejournal.com profile] brotherguy's comments section.)

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