Magnetic Fingers Update 2

I have experimented with larger magnets, more magnets, and touching lots of cool stuff now. I am ready to draw some conclusions about magnetic fingers.

Supergluing magnets to your fingers is safe enough. The superglue degrades pretty quickly with a little rubbing, and it comes off of the magnet before it tears your skin. You may have to tough out a little pulling on your skin, but it *shouldn't* tear.

Supergluing magnets to your fingers is super cool. You can feel some pretty awesome sensations you couldn't feel before. I'm looking forward to finding an electric motor to test with.

The downsides of supergluing magnets to your fingers as opposed to having magnets implanted is that things are not quite as easy to remove from the magnet as they would be if it were under your skin. Superglue is not an amazing adhesive, despite its name, and after lifting a few heavy things with the magnet it tends to come loose. Regluing is a pain in the butt.

Having a magnet on your finger, implanted or not, has its own downsides. Lots of stuff sticks to the magnet, whether you like it or not. That takes some getting used to. It may not be as bad as it seems. Also, while my computer was being repaired today my brother gave me a funny look when I showed him the magnet glued to my finger. I imagine that funny looks, especially around computer equipment, are mandatory when you do this.

I recommend that you do this because it gives you a feeling, pun intended, for other senses. I think this is a neat and safe experiment for anybody who cane get a hold of the right magnet.

These magnets from Radioshack seem to be the right size (1/8") and are probably about the correct strength. If you have an iBook, check under your keyboard for a circular magnet about that size. You don't have to remove any screws to get at it.

I recommend that you use your ring or pinky fingers for the same reasons that the original article does. Give it a shot and let me know how it comes out at mustardhamsters@gmail.com

Magnetic Fingers Update 1

I've made a new discovery in my experimentation with magnetic fingers. As I walked down the hall here at work, I tried touching everything in sight to test out my new "sense". The building has those special fire doors that are designed to shut when the power goes off. The doors have metal pads that stick to an electromagnetic base on the wall. I put my magneto-finger up to the electromagnetic base and I felt the exact same sensation of whirring that the original article mentioned.

Perhaps the sense is not dependent on the magnet floating under the skin. That definitely felt pretty cool.

I had to glue the magnet back on a little bit, as the glue came loose from the magnet's smooth surface after sticking to a few things too hard. I have a few larger sized magnets I could test with, maybe when this magnet comes loose again I'll give one of them a whirl.

Magnetic Fingers

I recently read this article in WIRED magazine and was immediately engaged. The idea of being able to sense magnetic fields is pretty cool, but obviously the cruddy implants is not so cool.

Months later, today, I'm at work. I spend most of my time dismantling iBooks for parts. Each iBook has three or four small, but powerful magnets in it for the latch, the sleep sensor etc. I remembered that article and superglued a tiny one to my right hand ring finger.

So far I can feel obvious magnetic attraction, like other magnets and metal. I haven't experienced any sensation from a live current, yet. I also have not been able to feel the hard drive spinning in my computer as the article suggests. My ideas on this are that:

A: I'm not used to the magnet enough yet.
B: I can't feel these things because the magnet is not free floating like in these guys' fingers.

We'll see how long this superglue lasts, and whether my finger gets ripped off or not because of it.