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Attraction and Repulsion: The Magic of Magnets

Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States3.A08
Free, no sign-up neededFall 2005English
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This Freshman Advising Seminar surveys the many applications of magnets and magnetism. To the Chinese and Greeks of ancient times, the attractive and repulsive forces between magnets must have seemed magical indeed. Through the ages, miraculous curative powers have been attributed to magnets, and magnets have been used by illusionists to produce “magical” effects. Magnets guided ships in the Age of Exploration and generated the electrical industry in the 19th century.

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