Re: Amazing technology [magnets again]

[William Beaty <billb@eskimo.com>]

On Fri, 9 May 1997, Larry Smith wrote:

> > I recall a thread of a few months ago regarding the use of magnets to soften
> > water. The list consensus was "nonsense", and there it ended.

Drawing conclusions based on "image" rather than evidence is called prejudice.

I stumbled across a website that had some info (see below.)

I heard 2nd-hand about controversy over this on the Compuserve Science
forum.  The bottom line was, not snake-oil, it works but no one could
explain it.  Also, auto fuel-line magnets ARE snake-oil and produce no
measureable MPG gain.  Perhapse the water-pipe magnets are tarred with the
same brush because of the decades of fuel-line-magnet superstition?

......................uuuu / oo \ uuuu........,.............................
William Beaty  voice:206-781-3320   bbs:206-789-0775    cserv:71241,3623
EE/Programmer/Science exhibit designer        http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/
Seattle, WA 98117  billb@eskimo.com           SCIENCE HOBBYIST web page


Magnetic Water Softeners (for sale there, also some info as below)

http://generalenv.com  


    Experimental Evidence for Effects of Magnetic Fields on Moving Water
                                      
                        by Dr. Klaus J. Kronenberg,
                                      
   The full article appeared in the 1984 Institute of Electric and
   Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Conference transactions: IEEE Transactions
   on Magnetics, Vol. Mag-21, No. 5, September 1985, pages 2059-2061.
   This article corresponds to the presentation by Dr. Kronenberg at the
   IEEE's International Conference on Magnetism in April 1985 in St.
   Paul, Minnesota. Only the abstract is included here.
   
                                  Abstract
                                      
     Observable changes of water by magnetic fields have been
     investigated in an attempt to contribute to the knowledge of the
     structure of liquid water. The crystallization mode of the water's
     mineral content was found to change from a dendritic,
     substrate-bound solidification habit to the form of separate
     disc-shaped crystals after the water had moved through a number of
     magnetic fields. The former scarcity of crystallization nucleii in
     the water had been turned into an abundance of nucleation centers
     in the water. The reduction of the number of the substrate-bound
     crystals has been used as a quantitative measure of the magnetic
     effect. A mechanism is suggested assuming that resonance between
     the time sequence of the magnetic fields and the internal vibratory
     frequency of the water complexes results in the fracture of some of
     the complexes. Thereby, the formerly encased foreign particles are
     released and provide the nucleii for the formation of disc-shaped
     crystals throughout the volume of the water. Further studies are
     urged in view of the staggering potential benefits for many water
     users, such as prevention of hard lime scale build-up, increased
     effectivity of chemical additions to water for softening,
     fertilizing, feeding, and cleaning purposes.