Magnetism and Its Humours

[beamjockey]

Over on 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 brotherguy's comments section.)

Comments

[tlunquist.livejournal.com]

I have encountered some pretty darned ferocious magnets in my life. The machinery at Dermot's office being the most dramatic example, but the rare earth magnets you can get at American Science are also right up there.